DALLAS — The day after police filed a charge against the woman at the center of a Deep Ellum assault case, the Dallas County District John Creuzot declined to prosecute.
Creuzot asked the magistrate to recall the arrest warrant and the magistrate agreed.
The Dallas County District Attorney's Office said it made the decision because they didn't feel it was proper to pursue a case against a victim during an active case against her attacker.
On Tuesday, Dallas police filed a charge of felony criminal mischief against L'Daijohnique Lee, 24, for damaging the man's pickup truck after she was punched on March 21 in a Deep Ellum parking lot.
Austin Sheffield, 30, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawfully carrying a weapon, public intoxication and interference with an emergency call.
It’s rare for a district attorney to decline a criminal case from a police department. Normally, if there’s some question about whether a crime occurred, the DA’s office will take the police department’s case and present it to a grand jury to let them decide if probable cause exists, allowing the case to proceed in the system. But it appears that Creuzot’s office isn’t even letting the case go that far.
The Dallas County District Attorney's Office released this statement Tuesday upon hearing a charge was to be filed against Lee:
"The Dallas County Criminal District Attorney’s Office found out late this afternoon, from media inquiries, that the Dallas Police Department issued a warrant for the arrest of L’Daijohnique Lee.
The District Attorney had no prior knowledge that an arrest warrant was issued. When and if charges reach the District Attorney’s Office, we will take appropriate action."
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