A man out east was charged with a number of crimes, but it now appears that a home security surveillance system may exonerate him from these serious charges. The domestic violence charges range from aggravated assault, terroristic threats and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
The former girlfriend of the man claimed that the suspect, allegedly intoxicated at the time, held a BB gun against her head and threatened to shoot her. The man charged was not home at the time, and he was eventually tracked down to a nearby bar where he was arrested. After posting a $10,000 bail, he was allowed to go home for 15 minutes to retrieve various personal items, and it was at this point he also removed the hard drive of the home security surveillance system.
As it turned out, there were many questionable aspects to the woman’s story. The home security system did not indicate that the suspect was ever home at the time that the incident allegedly occurred. The BB gun in question was still in its original casing and tucked away inside of a bedroom in the home, and the suspect was determined to be sober at the time of his arrest.
The story gets worse. While the woman stayed at the suspect’s home, it appears she ended up stealing his stereo, motorcycle, espresso machine and other articles.
In Colorado as in every other state, all criminal charges need to be verified and backed up by evidence. If such evidence is not forthcoming, defense attorneys have the right for such charges to be dismissed.
The assumption has to be that individuals are considered innocent until proven guilty in our criminal system. It’s not because every person released is innocent that such a requirement exists. It’s because we would rather have a guilty individual go free than an innocent person spend time in jail.
Source: Daily Record, “Judge wants woman’s accusations against Jefferson man investigated,” by Peggy Wright, September 5, 2012