Doctor Charged with Domestic Assault
A medical doctor was charged with Domestic Assault arising from an altercation that occurred between him and his then girlfriend. The couple attended a professional sporting event with a number of other people. While the group was driving home, the couple had a verbal argument over the volume of the radio playing in the car. The argument escalated causing the vehicle to stop and the backseat passengers to get out and walk the remaining distance to the doctor’s home. Before they departed, the doctor and his girlfriend who were both sitting in front, him driving and her in the front passenger seat, switched positions.
When the couple arrived home, the doctor asked his girlfriend to gather her belongings and leave his house. She refused and instead locked herself inside a bedroom. Unable to persuade the girlfriend to come out from inside the bedroom and leave the house, the doctor phoned police. Moments later, police arrived on scene to both interview and question the couple, along with their friends who were then at the house. While the girlfriend was being questioned privately, she accused the doctor of punching her in the face when the two were alone in the home before police were called and the backseat passengers arrived to the house. The woman presented to police with swelling and redness to her face consistent with having been punched. Based on this allegation, the doctor was placed under arrest and charged with Domestic Assault. The physician hired Attorney Calcagni to represent him in connection with this incident.
Attorney Calcagni commenced his own pretrial investigation that included interviewing all of the potential witnesses including the girlfriend. He also worked hand-in-hand with the doctor to create a record of all telephone, text message and online communications between he and the girlfriend, to include retaliatory messages that she sent to him after his arrest. These messages were sent after the girlfriend learned from social media that the doctor had quickly found another girlfriend. Lastly, Attorney Calcagni subpoenaed a recording of the doctor’s call to police, complaining of the girlfriend’s unwillingness to leave. Based on these collective efforts, Attorney Calcagni successfully convinced the prosecution to dismiss this case. The matter has since been sealed and removed from the doctor’s record. This exceptional result was necessary to protect and preserve the doctor’s medical license, hospital practice privileges and unblemished professional reputation.