Charges of Indecent Assault and Battery on a Person Over 14 Dismissed After Clerk Magistrate Hearing

On March 26, 2018 a woman contacted the police frantically complaining of having just been sexually assaulted. She claimed that a man grabbed her arms and breasts. After calming down the woman explained that around midnight she had given a homeless man she knows a coffee. The defendant was walking by at the time. Thinking nothing of him the woman left and walked home. She stood outside her home to smoke a cigarette. This other man had apparently followed her. He grabbed her and tried to push his way into her home. While doing so he fondled her breasts and repeated “I love you” and “You’re beautiful”. The victim resisted and was thrown to the ground. The defendant then fled. The incident was captured on a videotape. A clerk magistrate hearing was scheduled charging the defendant with indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14, a felony in Massachusetts. This is a violation of G.L. c. 265 Section 13H. Today, our office was able to convince the assistant clerk magistrate not to issue the complaint.

Read More in G.L. c. 265 Section 13H