Charges of Domestic Assault and Battery Against School Teacher Dismissed on Day of Trial

The defendant is a school teacher in a suburban Boston public school. On June 21, 2018 police responded to a call for a domestic disturbance. They met with the victim, husband of the defendant, at the front door of their home. He was covered with blood and bleeding from his face and nose. His shirt was torn and deep scratch marks along his chest and neck were visible. He immediately stated that he was hit by his wife. The police interviewed several neighbors who heard the commotion. All of them stated that there had been several incidents of violence in the home and that hit had been going on for months. The woman was arrested and charged with domestic assault and battery in violation of G.L. c. 265 Section 13M. We scheduled the case for trial today. The victim, husband, invoked his marital privilege preventing the district attorney from calling him as a witness. However the prosecution did try to get the judge to allow the admission of his statements when the police arrived under and excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. We prevailed on the judge to deny the motion and the case was dismissed.

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