Commonwealth v. BF

Feb 13, 2017

OUTCOME: Not Guilty

The Philadelphia criminal defense lawyers of Goldstein Mehta LLC continue to obtain outstanding results in the court room. This week, in the case of Commonwealth v. B. F., criminal defense attorney Dem ... etra Mehta obtained a full acquittal for B. F. in a case involving first degree felony Aggravated Assault charges. After deliberating for less than a day, the jury came back with a resounding Not Guilty verdict for B. F. B. F. was arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault for allegedly striking a neighbor in the head with a stick and attempting to “sic” his pit bull on the neighbor. The neighbor ultimately needed thirteen stitches in his forehead due to the injury caused by the stick. After the police were called and found the neighbor with visible injuries, they arrested B.F. and charged him with Aggravated Assault. Although Aggravated Assault is always one of the most serious charge a defendant can face under Pennsylvania law, this case was particularly serious because the Aggravated Assault charge was a “second strike” with a mandatory minimum sentence of 10-20 years in state prison. Firmly convinced of her client’s innocence, Attorney Mehta advised B. F. to reject a plea offer for substantially less jail time and demand a jury trial. Through relentless cross examination of the complainant and calling her client to the stand to testify, Attorney Mehta was able to show that B. F. had actually acted in self-defense when he struck the complainant. The jury ultimately concluded that the complainant was the one who initiated the fight by assaulting B. F. with a six foot long cast iron pipe and quickly found B. F. not guilty of all charges. Thanks to the aggressive advocacy of Demetra Mehta, Esq., B. F. walked out of the court room a free man.