Lengthy Prison Sentence Avoided After Attempted Murder Charges Dropped
- Steven Topazio wrote this October 16, 2018 at 5:33 pm
After a night of drinking, the client returned home and encountered her roommate who also returned home after a night out drinking. A fight between the roommates ensued, and the client allegedly grabbed a knife and stabbed the roommate in the arm. A friend of the roommate who tried to intervene was subsequently stabbed in the heart by the client, requiring emergency open heart surgery. The client was arrested and charged with attempted murder as well as assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. Attorney Topazio requested that his client undergo a psychiatric evaluation and lobbied the District Attorney to dismiss the attempted murder charge, (which carries a potential jail sentence of up to 20 years in state prison), after learning that his client was severely beaten by the other parties during the fight. Over the course of sever months, Attorney Topazio was successful in getting the attempted murder charge against his client dropped. Despite a recommendation to commit his client to a 7 to 9 year sentence, Attorney Topazio pursuaded the court to sentence his client to a sentence of 3 years to 3 years and one day on the charge of assault and battery serious bodily injury.