Late last summer CL was approached by some unknown male individuals who were attending a party next door to his house. There were numerous people walking across his lawn and driveway. Some of them had discarded some beer cans and cigarette butts on his property. CL asked these individuals to stop walking on his lawn, and to pick up their trash.
One of the individuals made a sarcastic comment to CL. The other laughed in his face. CL became angry and shouted at them. These same people later called the police and claimed that CL had threatened them with a handgun. CL was arrested for Aggravated Assault with a Handgun.
CL hired us to represent him. During our initial interview he denied ever displaying any type of weapon during the confrontation. He further explained that the police hadn’t even visited his house that evening. We subpoenaed the 911 recordings of the calls made by the alleged victims on the evening of his arrest. We went to the scene and took photographs. We interviewed CL’s neighbors and family members.
It turned out that the alleged victims hadn’t called the police until almost TWO hours after he supposedly pointed a gun at them. Also the physical layout of the scene was different than had been explained to the police.
During trial this was pointed out during cross examination of the 4 accusers. They basically told four different stories about how CL had pointed a gun at them. In making his ruling the Judge stated that “If someone had pointed a gun in my face, I certainly would have called the police sooner than TWO hours” FINDING OF NOT GUILTY