September 07, 2011

• Steven Topazio wrote this April 27, 2014 at 12:32 pm

The client, a 47 year old plumber, was charged with malicious destruction of property following his eviction from his home by his landlord. The client, who was on probation out of Superior Court, had represented himself in the eviction proceeding, and with the court’s help, mediated an agreement for judgment whereby he agreed to vacate the landlord’s premises in broom clean condition, normal wear and tear excepted, by a date certain. The client vacated the premises as agreed, but when the landlord inspected the property he discovered that 9 out of 14 doors were damaged by the tenant, 7 windows were missing security devices and the screens all had holes in them, the microwave oven was damaged, the convection oven window was broken, the vanity top in the bathroom had burn marks on the top, and the refrigerator had small dents all over the front doors, filed an application for criminal complaint against the client. The client, who represented himself at the clerk’s hearing, was unsuccessful in preventing this felony charge for malicious destruction from issuing. A conviction of this offense would have resulted in the client being surrendered out of Superior Court and committed to prison for this subsequent criminal activity, which he desperately worked hard to avoid. Over the course of several months, Attorney Topazio fought the charges, filing a motion to dismiss and arguing that the criminal charge should never have issued since the filing of the eviction proceeding and negotiated settlement made this case a civil matter and not criminal. Today, the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the charge in exchange for Client paying $200.00 in court costs. Client agrees to pay court costs and the case is dismissed. He therefore avoids a conviction for this crime and thus avoids a violation of his probation and possible prison time.