TRANSCRIPT:
Woman: Rape charges are dropped against the former chairman of the Montgomery county Republican party. The district attorney says she had no choice after discovering key evidence had been misinterpreted. So where does the case go from here? NBC 10 legal analysis Enrique Latoison is here now and, Enrique, good to see you. Let me ask you – charges were dropped because a toxicology report was interpreted incorrectly, so why isn’t the victim’s statement and testimony enough to move forward on the case?
Enrique: Well, you have to understand this case, when it first started out, it’s her word against his word. The district attorney’s office took their time. They submitted it to a grand jury. What they used to put them over the top was this physical evidence. This physical evidence corroborated her story that she was drugged and that she didn’t know what happened and that she woke up and she testified that she was buzzed a little bit with alcohol, but that she felt as though she was drugged. So now this case hinges on that physical evidence, which basically was the tiebreaker between his word and her word. And then it comes out, “Oops, we made a mistake.” The toxicology report was misinterpreted. It turns out that she actually was not drugged at all. At that point, the case is basically on life support at that point. The prosecution did the right thing. They withdrew the case because, at this point, you have a detective that testifies who said there’s (unintelligible) in their system and it turns out this is all a mistake.
Woman: Let me ask you. Does (unintelligible) have any legal standing now to go after, perhaps, the Montgomery county DA’s office or even the victim?
Enrique: Well, I would say the district attorney’s office made a mistake and they did the right thing by withdrawing the charges. They did that even on a high profile case like this. Prosecutors have an absolute immunity as long as they act in good faith, and I think their actions show that they act in good faith. Now, to turn around and sue the alleged victim in this case would be antagonizing at this point. I mean, it has a lot of years to file that kind of suit if you were to do so. I would think in the short term that would not be something that would be pursued.
Woman: And that’ll be the last word, attorney. Enrique Latoison, thank you so much for taking time to talk to use today.
Enrique: Thank you, Renee. Have a good day.
Contact Enrique Latoison
(610) 999-1439