Attorney Chris Spring Wins Acquittal in Baseball Bat Assault Case

Attorney Chris Spring convinced a jury today to find his client not guilty of beating a woman in the head with a baseball bat. 

The defendant was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon following her alleged involvement in a fight with the victim.  The victim called the police in hysterics to report that two women, including Attorney Spring’s client, had come to her apartment, knocked on her door, and started a fight with her.  The defendant allegedly hit the victim twice in the head with a baseball bat.  The responding police officer observed injuries to the victim that were consistent with her story.  An ambulance transported the victim to the hospital for treatment.

The victim told the police she had been involved in a road rage incident earlier in the day when she honked at a man who was driving his car the wrong way down a one-way street.  The man rolled down his window and swore at the victim.  The victim pulled over and called her boyfriend for assistance.  Meanwhile, according to the victim, the defendant and another woman got out of the car and started yelling at the victim.  The victim’s boyfriend arrived and all of the parties calmed down, eventually driving away in separate directions.  The defendant allegedly showed up at the victim’s apartment later in the day to continue the argument that began on the street.  There were two independent witnesses who reportedly saw the defendant hit the victim with the bat.

At trial, Attorney Spring confronted the victim with several inconsistent statements she made during the police investigation and leading up to the trial.  For example, the victim gave differing accounts regarding: who was in the car that had driven down the one-way street; how much time elapsed between the road rage incident and the fight at the apartment; whether the victim’s son was home at the time of the attack; and which doors the assailants had been knocking on before fighting with the victim.  After the victim denied she had made inconsistent statements, Attorney Spring questioned the police officer who had taken her statement.  The officer confirmed to the jury that the victim’s story had changed between the date she was beaten and the trial.

Attorney Spring also admitted the victim’s medical records into evidence.  The records established that the victim gave yet another inconsistent story regarding the assault to the doctors and nurses who treated her at the hospital.  The records also established the victim had a long history of mental health illnesses and was on strong medication on the date of the attack.  Attorney Spring argued to the jury that the victim’s story was unreliable and could not be believed, and therefore the Commonwealth had failed to establish his client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  His client testified on her own behalf that she had nothing to do with either the road rage incident or the subsequent assault, and she had been wrongly identified as the attacker.

The jury deliberated just 45 minutes before acquitting the defendant of the felony charge.