We recently had a client who was charged with a set of serious felonies all stemming from a very bad night. The defendant (who is not gay) caught his girlfriend in a car with a gay woman who he believed was “hitting” on his girlfriend. He got upset and opened the car door and tried to get the love of his life out of the car – and ended up only grabbing her purse away form her. A fight and short car chase ensued, and our client was arrested by the Cleveland Police and charged with Felonious Assault, Kidnapping and Robbery. Our client has a very good and long standing job, is in his 50′s, and a conviction for this type of stuff would have lost him his job.
Well, after some months of pretrial haggling and discussion, his serious felony charges were reduced to a misdemeanor, and he was fined $250.00 and sent home. What a day for him.
Some days are better than others.
