Torrance, Severe Facial Injuries, DEJ and Dismissal

Our client, age 58, was charged with one count of Penal Code section 273.5(a), corporal injury on a co-habitant, a misdemeanor, one count of violating Penal Code section 243(e)(1), battery upon one with whom the suspect had a dating relationship, a misdemeanor, and one count of Penal Code section 242, simple battery, a misdemeanor. In addition, he was on probation for a prior 273.5 charge, so he faced a probation violation charge.

Without All the Details, What Happened: Torrance, severe facial injuries to victim, case settled for delayed entry of judgment and dismissal.

The case was factually complicated because when the police were summoned to the apartment, our client was already at the Torrance Police Department. He had walked there to ask them to check on his girlfriend, with whom he had argued and then left after a verbal fight. As he left, she vowed to “end it all.” He therefore went to the police because he was concerned she would overdose on sleeping pills, as she had done previously.

As our client had a prior criminal history for domestic violence, he became the prime suspect right from the start of the investigation. Police interviewed our client in the hospital, where she remained for several days. In every interview, she insisted that our client had never hit her and that she caused her injuries by falling down. She stated that she remembered taking almost an entire bottle of sleeping pills and falling down, after which time the last thing she remembered thinking was “wow, that really hurt” and crawling into bed.

The police did not believe her. It seemed the more she insisted that our client was not involved, the more skeptical the police became. The District Attorney, apparently taking her cue from the police, decided to press charges in the Torrance Superior Court.

Torrance Courthouse

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