Editors note: The Daily Journal previously reported about this incident and has written this update to clear the record. All persons in crime stories are innocent until proven guilty.
Prosecutors dismissed charges for a Franklin man accused of assaulting a woman during a domestic dispute last June.
Corey Hight, 30, was charged with domestic battery, a Level 5 felony, last June. On July 20, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the charges, and the next day Johnson County Superior Court 2 judge Peter Nugent ordered the charges dismissed without prejudice, online court records show.
The charges were dismissed due to the prosecution’s inability to go forward after the victim refused to cooperate, said Joe Villanueva, prosecutor. The victim had failed to show up on two separate occasions to appear for a deposition for the case, he said.
Defense attorneys then moved to exclude her from being able to participate in future proceedings, arguing it impacted Hight’s constitutional right to confront and cross-examine all witnesses in the case. Prosecutors objected, but the court ultimately moved to grant the defense motion, Villanueva said.
“As she was an essential witness to what happened, without her testimony we are unable to go forward with the charges,” he said.
