The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the elements of the offenses you have been charged with, the penalty for those offenses, your right to trial, the government’s proof against you, and the government’s plea offer.

On March 9, 2006, you were arraigned in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on two counts of simple of assault against W______ S_______ in violation of 22 DC Code Section 404. These offenses are alleged to have occurred on March 7 and March 8, 2006.

If your case goes to trial, the government’s evidence will be that on March 8, 2006, police officers received a call for service at the 1500 block of P Street, NW in regard to a simple assault that had just occurred. When officers responded to that location, they were met by the complainant who was standing next to you. The complainant began yelling, “This is the guy, this is the guy!” as he pointed directly at you. The complainant continued to state, “This is the guy that punched me yesterday and stuck shit in my face and ear today.” The complainant advised the police officer that on March 7, 2006, he was walking his dog eastbound in the 1500 block of P Street NW when his dog stopped to go to the bathroom. The complainant stated that his dog did not go to the bathroom, and he and his dog walked westbound in the 1500 block of P Street, NW. As he and his dog reached the halfway point in the 1500 block of P Street NW, you were riding your bicycle and approached him from behind. You then punched him in the shoulder blade. The complainant used his cellphone to call 911 and you attempted to take the phone out of his hand with negative results. You then fled westbound on the 1500 block of P Street NW. Police arrived and took a police report in reference to this incident. Then, on March 8, 2006, the complainant stated that he was again walking his dog eastbound in the 1500 block of P Street NW when he was approached by you on your bicycle. The complainant stated that you stopped and picked up a pile of dog feces that was on the grass and stated, “Is this yours?” You then smooshed the dog feces into his right ear and the right side of his face. The police officers observed a soft substance, consistent with the look of dog feces, on the right side of the complainant’s ear and face. You advised a police officer that you did have a confrontation with the complainant on March 8, 2006 and did pick up the dog feces and state, “Is this yours” You did not state what you did with the dog feces after that. You were then placed under arrest for simple assault.

The government has made the following plea offer to you. If you plead guilty to one offense of simple assault, the government will dismiss the second offense of simple assault, the government will waive stepback, waive enhancement papers, and reserve allocution and will ask for a sentence of 180 days in jail, execution of all but 45 days suspended. Waive stepback means that the government will give up its right to speak as to whether you should be incarcerated pending sentencing. Sentencing will most likely be postponed to give the government an opportunity to obtain a victim impact statement from the complainant. The complainant can either submit a written statement to the prosecutor or appear at your sentencing and give an oral impact statement. Waive enhancement papers means that the government will not serve papers on you that can increase the maximum penalty if you have previously been convicted of an assault charge. This does not apply to your case because you do not have a previous conviction for simple assault. Allocute means to speak to the Court at the time of your sentencing. Regardless of what the government’s position is regarding you being incarcerated pending sentencing, the judge has the final say on this matter. The judge is not a party to this agreement between you and the prosecutor. Regardless of what you, I, and the prosecutor say at the time of sentencing, it is still the judge’s decision as to what your sentence will be. No one can make any promises to you as to what sentence the judge will impose if you plead guilty. The fact that you have no prior criminal record definitely operates in favor of a period of probation. As discussed, you could write a letter of apology to the complainant and bring it with you to the next court hearing, and you could obtain counseling from your pastor prior to the next court hearing.

If you decide to plead guilty, you will be giving up your right to trial and the right to appeal your case. An appeal is a review by a higher court for mistakes made during your trial by either your lawyer or the judge. Only if a mistake is made during your trial that would have had an impact on the outcome of the trial will you be granted a new trial. If you plead guilty, the only thing you can appeal is an illegal sentence. An illegal sentence is one that exceeds the boundaries of the law. For example, sentencing you to 1 year in jail when the maximum penalty is 180 days, is illegal and can be successfully challenged.

The plea offer will only remain open until the status date of March 29, 2006. If you decide to plead guilty after thatt date, you will have to plead guilty to both offenses of simple assault. If you set the case for trial and Mr. Selepack does not show up and there are no witnesses available to testify against you, the case will be dismissed. If you set the case for trial and Mr. S_______ does appear to testify against you, you can always plead guilty at that time. However, if you plead guilty on the trial date, you must plead guilty to both offenses and the government might ask for more than 45 days in jail. Again, the judge has the sole discretion to determine what your sentence will be.

If you plead guilty or are found guilty at trial, court costs ranging from $50 to $250 will be imposed. You will be given a reasonable amount of time to pay court costs.

I will be on vacation from March 18-24, 2006, and contact you after that date to discuss your case.

Sincerely
(my court appointed attorney)”