An individual engaged Cannon & Associates to represent them in a felony case in an Oklahoma state District Court case, where they were charged with (1) Domestic Assault & Battery with a Dangerous Weapon and (2) Kidnapping.
This individual was potentially facing up to a total of 30 years in prison and the State’s initial plea offer was for our client to serve 10 years in state prison with an additional 10 years on supervised probation after they would be released from custody, regardless of the fact this individual had no criminal history whatsoever.
The complaining witness in the domestic violence case was our Client’s ex-fiancé and our Client denied the allegations and wanted to fight the case. We made the decision to set the case for a preliminary hearing to force the State to present the evidence against our Client. The prosecution filed a motion to allow the complaining witness to testify virtually, i.e. testify without being present in court. Our Oklahoma criminal defense attorneys strongly objected and filed a response before the Court asserting our Client’s Sixth Amendment right to confront his accuser in person.
Our criminal defense attorneys showed Fierce Advocacy for our client and that we were willing to fight. The prosecution ultimately recognized the weaknesses in their case and decided to dismiss the Kidnapping charge outright. The prosecution also agreed to reduce our client’s violent felony, Domestic Assault & Battery with a Dangerous Weapon, to misdemeanor Assault and Battery.
With our legal advice, our client avoided the potential risk of 30 years in prison at trial and accepted a no contest plea on misdemeanor Assault and Battery. He received a one-year deferred sentence on the sole misdemeanor count.
What was initially a potential 30-year prison sentence on multiple felonies resulted in our Client only serving one year on probation for a misdemeanor that, upon successful completion, resulted in the case being dismissed.