Recently at the Pasadena Courthouse in Los Angeles County I was able to negotiate to a Penal Code Section 1385 dismissal in the interests of justice for our client charged with felony counts of violating Penal Code section 273.5(a) (“Injuring a Cohabitant, Fiancé, Boyfriend, or Child’s Parent”), Penal Code section 273a(a) (“Child Abuse”), and Penal Code section 245(a)(1) (“Assault with a Deadly Weapon”).
Prior to charges being filed in this matter we sent a pre-filing equities package to the prosecution to provide background detail regarding our client and the circumstances surrounding the incident. Although charges were filed in this matter, at the arraignment the prosecution was willing to discuss a future resolution that would potentially involve a dismissal if our client showed mental health treatment, parenting courses, and domestic violence classes.
According to the police reports, our client was alleged to have push, scratched, and hit her boyfriend during an altercation over their relationship and newborn baby. It was further alleged that our client put the tip of a bread knife to the shoulder of her boyfriend and threatened to stab him if he did not give her the baby.
At the time of the incident, our client was suffering from post-partum depression and was under a great deal of stress regarding her newborn baby. Our client enrolled in counseling, domestic violence classes, and parenting courses and greatly improved her behavior and mental health.
We provided the prosecution with a supplemental equities package detailing our client progress in treatment and her steady employment with CVS pharmacy. The prosecution wanted a psychologist’s opinion on our client’s likelihood of recidivism in their decision whether to dismiss the charges. Our client’s mental health therapist opined that she had a very low likelihood of reoffending and detailed that the incident stemmed from her postpartum depression and high stress from parenthood.
At the final hearing on this matter, the prosecution dismissed the charges against our client! Our client will no longer face felony charges or a criminal record from the offense!
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