The Finger Investigation
Attorney Brett Podolsky represented a defendant who was in very ill health. The defendant, a gay male, was charged with biting off the finger of his lover’s mother.
The mother showed up at the defendant’s apartment highly intoxicated. During the verbal altercation that ensued, she attacked the defendant, who is frail and in ill health. The woman was on top of the defendant, choking him to the point he was losing consciousness when he bit down on her finger in an attempt to get her to break her hold. The strength of the bite severed one of her fingers from her hand. When the police responded they immediately arrested the defendant for aggravated assault.
A week after the defendant got out of jail on bond, his dog found the woman’s finger underneath the couch, bringing the finger to his master, with a sense of accomplishment. The defendant, a good citizen, called the police to come and recover the finger, but of course it was too late to sew it back on.
Gradoni Detectives Investigate
During the course of our investigation, we developed witnesses that would testify that the complainant in this case was a severe alcoholic, who had numerous incidents where she assaulted not only her spouse, but other male partners of her son. The State wanted to give the defendant a 15-year term, but he elected to take the case to trial.
During the trial, Houston criminal defense lawyer Brett Podolsky artfully exposed all of the woman’s past encounters to the jury, who obviously believed that the defendant acted in self-defense, providing an acquittal.
RESULT BASED ON INVESTIGATION: Defendant Acquitted of Aggravated Assault
Return to the March 2015 Investigator’s Newsletter