Assault Charge Against Alleged Serial Rapist: Dismissed
A male exotic dancer was accused in a neighboring state with several instances of rape. These allegations half of which have been dismissed and the other half of which are pending trial were covered extensively by the media. The day after the media aired its report a female neighbor of the male dancer went to police and alleged that she too had been assaulted by him four days earlier. The woman told police that she had arrived home one evening from work and discovered the man outside her apartment building near her driveway. She then claimed the man placed his arm around her neck and dragged her against her will toward to street to see his new car. There was no independent evidence to corroborate the womanӳ allegation. Notwithstanding based on her unsupported claim the man was charged with Assault. He maintained his innocence and retained Attorney John L. Calcagni III to establish his defense. The ma exercised his right to a jury trial. During trial preparation Attorney Calcagni did a full background check on the alleged victim to include her employment with a security company. He also acquired text message communications between the neighbors wherein they planned to go on a dinner date. Attorney Calcagni also acquired evidence about the neighbors’ prior in-person or physical contact with one another. The defense trial strategy was to establish a prior relationship between the neighbors in order to show that the woman consented to whatever touching occurred between them on the night in question. By her own admission she did not physically or verbally resist the manӳ contact. The defense also planned to undermine the femaleӳ credibility based on her delayed report to police and close timing between her allegation and the news coverage of his out-of-state rape allegations. The defense provided the prosecution with evidence of its strategy the night before the trial. The next morning the prosecution voluntarily dismissed the case. Congratulations to this wrongfully accused man. The matter has since been sealed and removed from the man’s record.