Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Women Not Guilty

Sep 09, 2017

OUTCOME: Not Guilty

I started the trial by telling the jury that this case was about a botched investigation. When my client arrived at the hospital the staff took her blood pressure and she was administered nitroglycerin ... twice. She was later admitted to the hospital. Little did my client know that this was the beginning of her nightmare. My client was admitted to the hospital for multiple days for observation. On February 23 she was growing tired of the hospital. She was having trouble sleeping and was starving since she could not put down any of the hospital food. On this afternoon she decided that she was going to go with her fiancé to the hospital cafeteria. She entered the cafeteria and was directed by the staff to the salad bar. When they arrived at the cashier to check out they were confronted by the cafeteria manager Ms. Williams. Ms. Williams told my client that she was not able to purchase the food from the cafeteria since she was a patient and the cafeteria could not ensure that the food purchased complied with food restrictions imposed for treatment. She was confused. She did not understand why there were no signs that said patients could not purchase food. The defense presented testimony from the charge nurse overseeing my client. The nurse testified that my client did not intentionally bump the cafeteria manager. In order for my client to be guilty of a battery, there has to be an intentional touch or strike. The nurse’s testimony proved that there was no intent. There were two other witnesses that also said that the cafeteria manager looked pregnant. I was able to convince the jury that the reason why they believed the cafeteria manager looked pregnant was that they knew her before she was pregnant. Ms. Dufresne came downstairs to the cafeteria to speak with my client and Ms. Williams. Ms. Williams informed Ms. Dufresne that patients could not purchase food in the cafeteria. While this conversation occurred you will learn that my client’s fiancé was present for the conversation as well as other witnesses. She realized after this that Ms. William’s was not going to allow my client or her fiancé to purchase the food she fixed so she decided to leave and go back to her room. As my client is leaving there was testimony presented that she raised her hands up to leave since it was crowded as she was attempting to leave. There was also testimony that as my client and her fiancé are leaving Ms. William’s yells for someone to call the police because she is pregnant and that my client's belly bumped her. There were many inconsistencies in the witnesses’ stories. There were a total of five witnesses to the event and none of the witnesses had the same version of events. Furthermore, although there were multiple cameras located in the cafeteria there was no camera footage collected of this incident. The jury learned that the police were dispatched to the scene at the request of Ms. William’s. When the police arrived the first person they met with was Ms. William’s and got her version of events. Afterward, the police met with several other witnesses who were Ms. William’s co-workers. The police met with the hospital security and the nurse caring for my client. The police got all of these individuals' stories. All these conflicting stories. By the time the police met with my client, it was clear from the testimony that they had already made up their minds that they were going to arrest my client for a battery without even hearing her side of the story. There was nothing my client could tell the police that would change their minds about charging her with a battery. When the police arrived accompanied by the hospital security they did not bother to ask my client’s fiancée what happened even though he was present for the incident. They did not even bother to collect his contact information to do a follow-up investigation. Nor did they attempt to view the cafeteria surveillance. Thankfully after all the evidence was presented the jury acquitted my client and she got to go home as a free woman.