Hagerstown, MD asked in Criminal Law for Maryland

Q: Husband was assaulted & filed charges, he had video of the assault & 5 witnesses, but Prosecutor dismissed case....

The other party filed assault charges too, after he was served with his summons. The other party did not have any evidence to contradict my husband's evidence. However, the prosecutor did not advise my husband that they were dismissing the charges, & did not even ask to see the video evidence or speak to the witnesses. So all someone has to do is file the aame charges and the charges against them get dismissed????

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Benjamin Herbst
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Answered

A: The prosecutor has the ultimate discretion when to dismiss (nolle pros.) a charge. They often choose to do this when there are two parties that have filed charges against each other because each defendant would have a 5th Amendment right to remain silent, and therefore the State could not compel either defendant to testify. No doubt the prosecutor should have communicated with your husband's lawyer before choosing to nolle pros. the case, but since he was a defendant in the other case they could not contact him directly to discuss the matter. The main problem is that it is too easy to file charges against another person in Maryland, as District Court Commissioners do not investigate whether an allegation is true. They simply look to see if there is probable cause for the crime charged before issuing a summons or a warrant.

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