Assault & Battery Results

Assault On Family/Household Member – Not Guilty
Threat To Commit A Crime – Not Guilty
Vandalize Property – Not Guilty
Assault & Battery On Family/Household Member – Not Guilty

On September 22, 2014, shortly after midnight, a woman informs her husband, an off-duty Police Officer, that their neighbors are fighting out on their lawn. He comes to the window and observes a physical altercation between the parties. He calls Shrewsbury Police who are dispatched to the residence. By the time they arrive the couple has returned to the house. Upon arrival the police find the female hysterical, crying and shaking. She has difficulty communicating as her primary language is not English. Police report that the interior of the house was littered with broken furniture, primarily several kitchen chairs. A shirtless male, identified as the husband was found inside the house as well as the wife, who informs the police that the couple had argued, that they went outside and that the husband struck her and threw her to the ground. She further states that the husband had threatened to destroy the home. A nonrelated roommate, who together with her child also live at the residence. She tells police that although she heard the argument, she remained in her room until the police arrived and knock on her door. The husband is handcuffed and taken into custody for the above charges. He was initially held without bail as a Danger to the Community, which was reversed upon appeal. Bail was set at $25,000.

Assault And Battery On A Child With Injury, Assault And Battery With A Dangerous Weapon – All Charges Dismissed

On June 24, 2013, our client, a 34-year-old gentleman, was charged with Assault & Battery (A&B) on a Child Causing Injury and Assault & Battery (A&B) with a Dangerous Weapon. According to police reports, the 7-year-old daughter of the gentleman’s fiancé burst into the couple’s bedroom without warning or knocking. The mother and her fiancé (our client) explained to the little girl that she was not allowed to enter the bedroom without knocking and that if she did so again, she would be punished with a “spanking with the belt”. The child left the bedroom only to return several minutes later in the same fashion. Once again, the mother and our client admonished the 7 year old, explaining that she could not enter the couple’s bedroom without knocking. They again informed the child that should this behavior continue that she would be punished with a “spanking with the belt”. A short time later the 7 year old once again burst into the bedroom without knocking. According to reports, after this third occurrence and two warnings, our client did spank the child with the belt as the mother and he had warned.

Several days passed and the child went to a pool party with the biological father where someone pointed out a red mark on the little girl’s thigh to the biological father, which could be seen while she wore her bathing suit. He questioned the 7 year old who told him our client had spanked her with the belt. The father called Department of Child Services and the police and our client was arrested and charged with A&B with Injury to a Child and A&B with a Dangerous Weapon, both Felonies. The gentleman hired Attorney Gregory Casale.

Attorney Casale filed a motion with the court arguing that the state had no right to interfere with the right of a parent or “one who stood in the place of a parent” to discipline their child as they saw fit, so long as the discipline did not rise to the level of abuse. Massachusetts is one of a handful of states that have refused to address the issue of corporal punishment head on and therefore there are no clearly defined laws as to what is and is not prohibited. However, there are ancillary cases in which Dept. of Children Services was involved as either plaintiff or defendant where the courts have discussed the pertinent issues without setting out guiding statutes or case law.

Attorney Casale argued that in this case, the gentleman was a parent ad loci (standing in place of the parent) and that the action that he took in relation to the child was merely parental discipline that was meted out thoughtfully, with fair warning, in a manner that was not carried out in anger and did not cause substantial harm to the child. In other words, the gentleman, with cooperation and participation of the biological mother, had decided that this was the way that they wanted to discipline their child. The manner in which they decided to discipline their child did not arise out of anger but by a genuine desire to discipline the child in a manner that they saw fit to teach the child how to behave. The judge agreed, and all charges were Dismissed.

Assault And Battery With Dangerous Weapon, Assault And Battery On A Retarded Person – Not Guilty On All Counts

A 21-year-old young man who worked as a counselor at a group home for the mentally impaired was charged with assaulting and battering one of the house residents. The alleged victim, who is mentally challenged and known to have a violent disposition, named attorney Casale’s client as the person who struck him. Images of the bruising from the alleged victim’s torso were sent to the FBI crime lab. Attorney Casale was able to show that the imprint was the sole of a shoe that did NOT match the sole print of any footwear owned or worn by his client. Ten witnesses who work at the group home testified for the Commonwealth. However, attorney Casale was able to limit the admissible evidence of the Commonwealth, effectively stripping away all potentially incriminating evidence from the Commonwealth’s case.

After the Commonwealth finished presenting their evidence, attorney Casale’s made a motion for a directed verdict by the presiding judge, which was allowed. Not guilty on all charges.

Assault And Battery – Not Guilty

A woman alleged that her ex-husband, the defendant represented by attorney Casale, slapped her in the face while she was sitting in the passenger’s seat, next to her father, in his car. The alleged victim and her father were in the father’s car, outside of the defendant’s home, picking up the seven-year-old and four-year-old children of the now divorced couple. The seven-year-old came home from the previous week’s visit with his mother and told his dad that his grandmother made him hold out his arm and struck him with the sole of her shoe, leaving a mark that was clearly visible in photographs that dad took upon the child’s return home. The defendant testified that he merely put his arm into the passenger window to try to show the photographs to the ex-wife, who had no desire to see them.

The alleged victim’s father took the stand and testified that he was sitting in the driver’s seat and observed the defendant reach into the car and slap his daughter in the face. Under a heated cross examination by attorney Casale the father changed his testimony several times and essentially lost his credibility with the jury. The alleged victim fared no better under a similarly heated cross-examination and changed her account of the details of the incident several times trying to explain discrepancies brought out by attorney Casale between the statements she made to the police, the recorded 911 tape when she called in the incident and the account that she provided on direct examination.

The jury was out no more than 10 minutes with a not-guilty verdict.

Assault And Battery, Intimidating A Witness – Dismissed

A 28-year-old woman was charged with Assault and Battery and Intimidating a Witness after a domestic altercation with her husband. When police arrived on scene, they observed scratch and bite marks on her husband’s body. Police determined that our client had been the primary aggressor and she was arrested. Attorney Casale successfully got all charges dismissed.

Multiple Charges – Dismissed After Pretrial Probation Ends – No Record

A 19-year-old client was charged with Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest and Assault and Battery on a Police Officer. Attorney Casale was able to have the Assault and Battery charge dismissed and the other two charges were continued on pretrial probation for three months. After the three months, so long as the client does not get rearrested, those charges will be dismissed as well keeping this young man’s record absolutely clean.

Multiple Dockets And Charges – All Charges Dismissed

A 34-year-old woman was traveling in a red Jeep Cherokee on Route 6/28 in Bourne. An officer randomly ran her license plate to find that the status was revoked for insurance cancellation on a green Volvo. The Defendant admitted to not having a driver’s license and when the Officer ran her name through the computer, it was determined that the Defendant had two outstanding warrants. The first warrant was issued out of Falmouth District Court for two charges of Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon and one Assault and Battery charge. The second was a warrant issued out of the Falmouth District Court for Trespassing. Attorney Casale represented the Defendant on all three dockets and was successful in getting all eight charges dismissed.

Docket #1 Aninsured Motor Vehicle – DISMISSED, Number Plate Violation To Conceal Id – DISMISSED, Operating A Motor Vehicle With A Suspended License – DISMISSED, Unregistered Motor Vehicle – NOT RESPONSIBLE.

Docket #2 Assault And Battery With A Dangerous Weapon – DISMISSED, Assault And Battery With A Dangerous Weapon – DISMISSED, Assault And Battery – DISMISSED

Docket #3 Trespassing – DISMISSED

Assault And Battery, Threatening To Commit A Crime – Not Guilty On All Counts – Westboro District Court
A 24-year-old young man was charged with Assault and Battery and Threatening to Commit a Crime after an alleged altercation with his ex-girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend went to the police and told them that she and the defendant had gotten into an argument regarding their relationship. She told police that the defendant shook her and threatened to put a bullet in her head. She also claimed that the defendant told her that she didn’t know what she was getting herself into. At trial, attorney Casale was successful in obtaining a not guilty verdict.