A District Attorney can choose to bring a case to trial, or not. The State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt their theory of the crime. If a DA is driven by power, glory, or ego, they may push a case to trial that was not as strong a case as they believed. Or, a vain prosecutor might choose to duel with a young lawyer without trial experience and try to bully a victory from the jury.

This week in Placer County, the prosecutors bit off more than they could chew when they took our client to jury trial against associate defense attorney Joseph Daugherty.

Joseph Daugherty has many court appearances under his belt, but this was his FIRST jury trial, with serious felony charges at that! He presented an excellent case, asked the jury, "What does the evidence show?" and he hung the jury 9-3 resulting in his client not being convicted of something he didn't do. Cops had arrested the client for carrying legal medicine and a legal weapon, and tried to jam him up for possession with intent to sell.

Fortunately, many jurors were not swayed by the weak evidence and the DA's case, despite the prosecution being able to get in extraneous evidence to dirty the case up. Justice prevailed. Well done, Joseph Daugherty!