Assault, Brandishing & Battery Charges Dismissed

June 2021

Our client was charged with assaulting 3 employees and vandalizing property belonging to the restaurant they worked at. Three employees described the suspect as a regular customer and possible transient in the area. frequent the restaurant often.  The suspect also threatened to stab the employees with a screwdriver he was holding. LAPD recovered the suspect’s which contained a driver’s license belonging to our client as well as other credit cards and miscellaneous items. Rather than showing the employees group of photos to identify the suspect in a fair and non-suggestive manner, they showed the employees a driver’s license recovered from the backpack that belonged to our client.  That license had been reported to DMV as lost just two months before this incident. Michael A. Goldstein secured surveillance video from the restaurant and convinced the City Attorney that they had the wrong guy.  The City Attorney dismissed the charges and also agreed to submit a motion to seek a finding of factual innocence.