Some Questions in the Patrick Moran Girlfriend-Beating Case (Update: More From the Girlfriend and the Police)

Update: We get a deeper statement from the girlfriend.  Her actual name is in the original version of the story, but I won’t include it.  Via Roll Call:

The younger Moran’s girlfriend, [censored], issued a statement in response to the media frenzy Wednesday afternoon.

“This was an accident that has been blown out of proportion,” [censored] said. “The statements in the police report are inaccurate. Pat and I were arguing, one of my high heels gave out, and I fell into the side of a trashcan. On impact, I fractured my nose. False conclusions were made as a result. I hope our privacy will be respected.”

Yeah, except...  as noted below, Pat Moran did plead guilty.  And it’s really hard to believe the cops would be mistaken about Moran grabbing the back of her head and slamming her into a trash cage.  Also please note that the Washington City Paper has the police report and has posted it online.  It adds what I suspected: that there were more than one officer at the scene witnessing this.  So why was it pled down, again?  This deserves a little more digging.

And, by the way, a now-proven assault in a public place is not a matter of privacy.  Just saying.

We resume the original post, as is, below the break.

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Yes, I am back after a brief hiatus, and I want to talk about this breaking story about Patrick Moran, Congressman Jim Moran’s son, involved in beating up his girlfriend, because it raises a few interesting questions.  Let’s start with the basic story from the AP:

Guilty plea for son of U.S. Rep. Moran in assault case

By Keith L. Alexander and Ben Pershing, Wednesday, December 12, 2:51 PM

The son of U.S. Rep. James P. Moran pleaded guilty Wednesday to an assault on his girlfriend in front of a Northwest D.C. nightspot on Dec. 1.

Patrick B. Moran, 23, of Arlington, pleaded guilty to one count of simple assault, a misdeameanor. D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Frederick Sullivan gave Moran a suspended jail sentence of 90 days and one year of probation.

Moran was also ordered to complete 50 hours of community service and domestic violence counseling, and not to “threaten, harass or assault” the woman as a condition of his probation, court records say.

A police officer saw Moran grab a woman by the back of her head and slam it into a trash can at about 1:23 a.m. in front of a nightclub called The Getaway in Columbia Heights, according to court documents.

Moran and the woman were separated by police, who later learned the woman was his girlfriend of six months. The two had argued inside the club after Moran spoke with another woman there, according to court documents.

Moran was initially charged with assault with significant bodily injury, a felony. The woman was bleeding “heavily” from her nose; according to court records; her nose and right eye were “extremely” swollen. The woman was taken to a hospital, and a paramedic told police her nose appeared swollen and her right eye socket was fractured.

According to a statement from a spokesman for Moran (D-Va.): “The Congressman strongly condemns domestic violence. As was stated in court by both his son Patrick and his girlfriend ... the situation was an accident.

“They were the only two people involved in the scene,” the statement continued. “In that sense, their statements are the only ones that matter. They are both very embarrassed by the situation, which involved drinking, and they are looking to move past it, and ask for their privacy to be respected.”

Calls to Moran and his court-appointed attorney Gretchen Franklin were not returned.

Read the whole thing.  The article goes on to remind us that this is the same Patrick Moran who was busted by James O’Keefe III’s operation for encouraging voter fraud, but that is actually kind of irrelevant right now.  What I want to talk about is this attack on his girlfriend.

For one thing, let’s dispense with one little bit of B.S. here.  As a matter of law, this was not an accident.  He pled guilty to assault, which is an intentional crime.  You do not accidentally commit an assault.  And so he and his daddy’s spokesperson forfeited the right to call it an accident.

Indeed it seems doubtful that Moran maintained it was an accident throughout the hearing.  When a judge accepts a guilty plea, it is a constitutional requirement that the person must actually admit to every element of the relevant charge.  In other words, the constitution requires that Moran admit that this was not an accident.

The reason for that rule is simple.  Now, you and I know that there are certainly cases where a person is wholly innocent of a charge but still pleads guilty because they believe they are going to be wrongly convicted.  But in the law of plea bargains, this is not allowed, at least not officially.  In the law of plea bargain, you are only allowed to plead guilty if you are guilty, and if you cannot admit guilt, then the judge cannot allow you to plead guilty.  It is possible, I suppose, for a judge to fail to follow this rule, but I don’t see any reason to believe he or she did here.  The more likely thing is he said it was an accident and then later stated it was not.

But this outcome is hard to understand, given these facts.  First, having dug through the D.C. Court system and the D.C. Code, it appears he was charged under this statute:

Section 22-404 Assault or threatened assault in a menacing manner; stalking

(a)(1) Whoever unlawfully assaults, or threatens another in a menacing manner, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or be imprisoned not more than 180 days, or both.

(2) Whoever unlawfully assaults, or threatens another in a menacing manner, and intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes significant bodily injury to another shall be fined not more than $3,000 or be imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term “significant bodily injury” means an injury that requires hospitalization or immediate medical attention.

So it appears he was initially charged under (a)(2) but was allowed to plead it down to (a)(1).  But...why?  Some clue to this is contained in this passage:

According to a statement from a spokesman for Moran (D-Va.): “The Congressman strongly condemns domestic violence. As was stated in court by both his son Patrick and his girlfriend ... the situation was an accident.

“They were the only two people involved in the scene,” the statement continued. “In that sense, their statements are the only ones that matter. They are both very embarrassed by the situation, which involved drinking, and they are looking to move past it, and ask for their privacy to be respected.”

Now, it is depressingly common for the victim of girlfriend beating to decide she still loves the guy who beat her and to lie and say it was an accident when it plainly wasn’t.*  “Oh, I just fell down the stairs” is a familiar refrain and something similar appears likely to have happened here (although I suppose it is possible for her to be genuinely confused on this point).  For instance, it is notable that Patrick Moran was forbidden from harassing, assaulting etc. the girlfriend, but was not prohibited from all contact; this suggests that the woman still wants to see him, which suggests she has not figured out that she needs to ditch him just yet.

But it is absolutely wrong of his spokesman to say that they were the only two people involved, let’s remember what came before this:

A police officer saw Moran grab a woman by the back of her head and slam it into a trash can at about 1:23 a.m. in front of a nightclub called The Getaway in Columbia Heights, according to court documents.

So normally, practically speaking, it is hard to prosecute when the only witness to the violence (besides the alleged perp) is a woman who has decided that she still loves the guy and it was all really an accident, etc.  But that is because most acts of girlfriend/spousal abuse are done in private.  Most of these bastards are not brazen enough to beat their wives or girlfriends in a public place.  Here, we not only have a witness but a police officer.  So why did prosecutors feel that the case wasn’t strong enough to convict him under the felony version of the charge?  That’s a mystery I would like to see explored and explained.  It’s not necessarily rotten and corrupt—maybe the officer didn’t have a sufficiently good view to be certain, but it deserves exploration to make sure it isn’t the case that they are going easier on the son of a Congressman.

And speaking of, I found this bit interesting as well:

Calls to Moran and his court-appointed attorney Gretchen Franklin were not returned.

So... why is he getting a free lawyer?  Bear in mind you do not automatically get a free attorney when charged with a crime, but only if you can’t afford your own.  So there is a means test you have to go through before you are granted one.  And despite Jim Moran’s claims to be broke, it is unlikely that any sitting U.S. Congressman could pass this test, so the only explanation seems to be that Jim Moran was refusing to lend a hand.  Which is interesting.

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* It is common for women in this situation to also say they want to “drop the charges.”  This grows out of the popular myth that it is up to the victim of a crime whether a person is prosecuted for a crime, or at least they have veto power over it.  This is simply not true.

In the criminal law, a criminal case is between the relevant government against the defendant, not the victim of the crime against the defendant.  In Virginia, it is styled Commonwealth v. Smith, in some states it is “the people v. Smith” but the upshot is the same: it is the relevant government entity v. the defendant, not the victim v. the defendant.  That is because a crime is considered, at least in part, an offense against the government.

Once you grasp that simple truth, it explains two things that confuse people about the justice system.  The first is why a victim has no direct control over whether a person will be prosecuted: because they are not technically even a party to the action!  It also explains why, for instance, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty in criminal court for the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, but then found liable in civil court for their deaths.  The first case was the state of California v. Simpson, and the second was the Brown and Goldman families v. Simpson.  Just because the state of California took its shot at O.J. and lost, doesn’t mean that the Brown and Goldman families claims should be prejudiced by that failure.

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My wife and I have lost our jobs due to the harassment of convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin, including an attempt to get us killed and to frame me for a crime carrying a sentence of up to ten years.  I know that claim sounds fantastic, but if you read starting here, you will see absolute proof of these claims using documentary and video evidence.  If you would like to help in the fight to hold Mr. Kimberlin accountable, please hit the Blogger’s Defense Team button on the right.  And thank you.

Follow me at Twitter @aaronworthing, mostly for snark and site updates.  And you can purchase my book (or borrow it for free if you have Amazon Prime), Archangel: A Novel of Alternate, Recent History here.  And you can read a little more about my novel, here.

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Disclaimer:

I have accused some people, particularly Brett Kimberlin, of reprehensible conduct.  In some cases, the conduct is even criminal.  In all cases, the only justice I want is through the appropriate legal process—such as the criminal justice system.  I do not want to see vigilante violence against any person or any threat of such violence.  This kind of conduct is not only morally wrong, but it is counter-productive.

In the particular case of Brett Kimberlin, I do not want you to even contact him.  Do not call him.  Do not write him a letter.  Do not write him an email.  Do not text-message him.  Do not engage in any kind of directed communication.  I say this in part because under Maryland law, that can quickly become harassment and I don’t want that to happen to him.

And for that matter, don’t go on his property.  Don’t sneak around and try to photograph him.  Frankly try not to even be within his field of vision.  Your behavior could quickly cross the line into harassment in that way too (not to mention trespass and other concerns).

And do not contact his organizations, either.  And most of all, leave his family alone.

The only exception to all that is that if you are reporting on this, there is of course nothing wrong with contacting him for things like his official response to any stories you might report.  And even then if he tells you to stop contacting him, obey that request.  That this is a key element in making out a harassment claim under Maryland law—that a person asks you to stop and you refuse.

And let me say something else.  In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe that any person supporting me has done any of the above.  But if any of you have, stop it, and if you haven’t don’t start.