Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo found James Timothy Reid not guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon and aggravated assault and battery.
He ordered that all other charges against Reid be discharged and any bond posted to be released to the defendant.
The defendant appeared in court with his counsel, Chief Public Defender Adam Hardwicke. The government was represented by Assistant Attorney General Joseph Taijeron.
In Govendo’s judgment of acquittal, he stated that in a criminal trial, the government bears the burden of proving each element of its case beyond a reasonable doubt, but in this case, the judge said the prosecution failed to meet its burden with regard to the charged offenses.
The prosecution stated that Reid slashed the victims without provocation.
The court found it “doubtful for a man such as the defendant to simply slash two people he saw walking along the Beach Road for no reason at all on the evening of April 3, 2007.”
The defendant stated that a fight ensued when the two victims tried to take his bottle of vodka.
He said that he was beaten, kicked and punched during the fight and his attempts to escape failed because the two victims were much bigger than he.
He said it was necessary to use his box cutter to slash the victims in self-defense because he was in danger of serious harm and or death.
“This is a very plausible account and when held against the story presented by the government, it creates ample reasonable doubt,” the judge stated.
“It is hard to believe that the defendant would purposely carry his box cutter just before leaving home and promise himself that he will slash just anybody he sees on the street,” Govendo said during the sentencing of the case.
Then acting chief prosecutor Mike Nisperos filed the information against Reid for two separate counts of attempted second degree murder for attempting to kill Jimmy James Pua and Dickson Cosmes on April 3, 2007.
Reid was also charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, and aggravated assault and battery.
Defense lawyer Adam Hardwicke said the case did not involve a “hate crime” and the defendant acted out of self-defense.
