Psychiatric Patient Who Attempts to Escape Hospital Charged with Eight Counts of Assault, Battery and Destruction of Property: Pretrial Probation.

A young man was taken by family members to a hospital emergency room after complaining of suffering from hallucinations.   The young man had a history of mental illness and recently underwent a change in his medication.  After being admitted to the emergency room, the man attempted to escape from the hospital.  He struck and assaulted multiple hospital employees in the process, including nursing staff and security officers, and he knocked over patients and visitors, some of whom were elderly.  The man also broke a glass window, from which he sought to escape.  Hospital security staff and health care providers successfully restrained the man, sedated him with medication, and admitted him to the psychiatric ward for one week.  Following his release, the man was charged by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with the following offenses: Count (1) Wanton Destruction of Property in violation of M.G.L. c 266, § 127; Counts (2) and (7) Assault and Battery on a Public Employee in violation of M.G.L. c 265, § 13D; Count (3) Assault and Battery in violation of M.G.L. c 265, § 13A(a); Counts (4) and (5) Assault and Battery upon an Elderly or Disabled Person in violation of M.G.L. c 265, § 13K(b); Count (6) Breaking Glass in a Building in violation of M.G.L. c 266, § 114; and Count (8) Disturbing the Peace in violation of M.G.L. c 272, § 53.   The young man retained the services of Attorney John L. Calcagni III to represent him in connection with these charges.

Attorney Calcagni’s strategy in this case was to educate the prosecutor of his client’s mental health condition.  Ultimately, if this matter proceeded to trial, he intended to defend the young man on grounds of lack of mental responsibility or insanity.  This defense allows one to avoid criminal responsibility where, due to a severe mental disease or defect, one is incapable of forming the necessary intent or mental state required to be guilty of committing a crime.  Attorney Calcagni requested and obtained full records of his client’s mental health history.  Attorney Calcagni also interviewed both the client’s psychologist, with whom he attends counseling, and psychiatrist, who prescribes his antipsychotic medication.   Both providers also provided letters of support on the client’s behalf. 

Attorney Calcagni used this information to persuade prosecutors to dismiss the eight charges for Assault, Battery, and Destruction of Property against the young man.  He argued that, based on the medical evidence of the man’s mental illness, the Commonwealth would lose at trial and the man would be found not guilty for reasons of lack of mental responsibility.  Prosecutors agreed, and counter offered a proposal for a straight dismissal with an offer to place the man on pretrial probation for one year.  A disposition of pretrial probation does not involve an admission of guilt or any responsibility whatsoever.  Rather, the individual’s case remains open for a period of time during which he may or may not be required to comply with special conditions.  In this case, prosecutors offered to place Attorney Calcagni’s client on pretrial probation for 12 months during which time the young man would simply have to continue his ongoing mental health treatment.  At the end of this term, providing the man fulfills this obligation and is not charged with a new offense, his case will be dismissed and he will not incur a criminal conviction from this incident.  Congratulations to this client.

Destruction of Property Case Results

If you have been charged with a criminal offense in Rhode Island or MA, contact Criminal Defense Attorney John L. Calcagni now at (401) 351-5100 for a free consultation or more information.

Destruction of Property Charges: Dismissed Twice.  Police charged an Auto Zone employee, who was attacked by a customer, for maliciously destroying store property that he accidentally damaged while defending himself during the attack.  The employee smartly retained the legal services of Attorney Calcagni who successfully had this case, which was filed against the man two times, completely dismissed on both occasions.

An Auto Zone employee on duty observed a female co-worker’s estranged husband enter the store while the co-worker was at the store register.  The estranged couple got into a heated verbal argument.  The Auto Zone employee intervened on his co-worker’s behalf in an attempt to quell the situation.  The estranged husband then became confrontational with the employee and pulled out a knife.  The Auto Zone employee, in an attempt to defend himself, grabbed a metal breaker bar from the store shelf in order to ward off the enraged husband.  The estranged husband then retreated from the store to his car in the parking lot.  Moments later, he then returned with a baseball bat.  The husband swung the bat at the Auto Zone employee who still had the breaker bar in his hand.  In an attempt to defend himself and his female co-worker, the employee responded by swinging the breaker bar toward to enraged husband.  In doing so, the employee accidentally broke and shattered the storefront window.  The estranged husband then swung the bat again violently, this time striking the employee several times.  These blows inflicted physical injuries upon the employee for which he later received medical treatment to include stitches.  Police were contacted and responded to the scene.  By the time of their arrival, the estranged husband had fled the store and the injured employee was at the hospital undergoing treatment.  After conducting a biased and lackluster investigation of what had transpired at the store that day, police ultimately charged both men with criminal offenses: the estranged husband with Assault and Battery and Assault with a Dangerous Weapon; and the injured Auto Zone employee with Defacing Property.

The Auto Zone employee hired the services of Attorney Calcagni.  After carefully reading the criminal complaint and supporting police report against the employee, Attorney Calcagni quickly realized that the police mischarged his client.  In response, he moved to dismiss the case.  The Court received Attorney Calcagni’s motion and granted it, thereby dismissing the case in its entirety.  Scorned with defeat, prosecutors quickly refiled charges against the employee, this time with the felony offense of Malicious Destruction of Property.  In preparation for his client’s defense, Attorney Calcagni interviewed management personnel from Auto Zone.  Managers set forth in an affidavit that their employee acted in self-defense when he broke the window.  Managers further attested that the employee had not been disciplined or sanctioned by the company for the shattered window and though the window had been repaired at the company’s expense, Auto Zone did not seek restitution or financial reimbursement from its employee who remained gainfully employed in good standing with the company.  Attorney Calcagni presented this information to prosecutors and successfully convinced them that the Auto Zone employee was the victim and not the assailant in this case.  He further convinced prosecutors that his client had been unjustly charged criminally, not once, but twice.  Attorney Calcagni then successfully negotiated for this case to be dismissed again permanently.