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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSix domestic battery charges have been dismissed against Lake County Recorder Michael B. Brown after his attorneys provided prosecutors with videos showing the alleged victim hitting him in front of children several times and defecating on his personal belongings.
Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said the videos undermined his office’s ability to prosecute the case. The charges were dismissed Wednesday.
Brown, 36, of Hobart, was charged Feb. 10 with eight felony counts that also included criminal confinement and neglect of a dependent.
Brown’s attorney Michael Woods has said Brown is the victim in the case and that his accuser “has tried to manipulate the system here to perpetuate that cycle of domestic violence,” The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.
In a letter to the alleged victim Tuesday, chief deputy prosecuting attorney Barbara McConnell wrote the prosecutor’s office had no choice but to dismiss the case because of the woman’s conduct, lack of veracity and lack of cooperation.
A friend of the woman had called police after she reached out to him “because things are getting worse and she is scared,” court documents state. The friend told police the alleged victim feared for her safety.
The county recorder oversees the recording and preservation of public records, including deeds, mortgages, liens, and articles of incorporation.
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