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Jermall Charlo is free to resume his career.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the WBC middleweight champion will no longer face felony assault charges stemming from a family incident last summer. The state of Texas filed a motion to dismiss during a hearing Monday afternoon in the 268th District Court in Fort Bend County, Texas. The motion comes a day after a scheduled discovery hearing that has now been cancelled.
According to court records obtained by BoxingScene.com, the state no longer wishes to proceed on the grounds that it no longer proves the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Charlo (32-0, 22KOs) previously faced a charge of Assault Causing Bodily Injury on a family member, stemming from an incident last September 5 in which he allegedly struck his 21-year-old nephew during a meeting. Labor Day in a Fort Bend county. home.
Charlo has long defended his innocence in the case, which was backed up by witnesses coming forward on behalf of the boxer. The statements and new evidence provided to the state did not support the charge files to the extent that the state believed a jury would find Charlo guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The development ends a year-long ordeal within his family, an affair that officially became a police matter in January. Charlo was arrested and booked on February 11 before being released on February 14 under the condition of home surveillance at the time of release. The condition was modified by the court upon learning that Charlo was training for a scheduled fight, as he was due to defend his title against Pole Maciej Sulecki on June 18 in his hometown of Houston, Texas.
The alleged incident in question would normally have carried a misdemeanor charge for a first time offender. However, Charlo was charged as a repeat offender due to a prior conviction for a 2015 incident in Clark County, Nevada. According to a copy of the affidavit obtained by BoxingScene.com, “It is further submitted to said Court that, prior to the commission of the aforesaid offense, the defendant was convicted (in Clark County, Nevada) of assault involving family violence.”
“[I]It is also presented in and before said Court that, prior to the commission of the aforementioned crime,”
Because the alleged incident in question took place during the pandemic, Charlo was subject to further punishment. The arrest affidavit noted that the alleged incident “took place in an area that, at the time of the crime, “(1) was subject to a declaration of a state of disaster made by… the President of the United States under the mandate of Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act; or the governor; or the chairmanship of the governing body of a political subdivision… or subject to an emergency evacuation order.
The plea meant the state had leeway to charge Charlo with second-degree felony assault, which would have carried a maximum charge of 4 to 20 years in prison, essentially double the sentence she would have been convicted of the felony. third grade Assault charge.
It becomes moot, as Charlo will no longer face a jury trial. The development marks the second time in more than a year that charges have been brought against the 32-year-old boxer, with both cases ultimately being dismissed. His arrest in February came less than two weeks after Charlo was fully exonerated on previous robbery charges from an incident last July in San Antonio. A misunderstanding over the boxer’s initial debit card rejection for services rendered led to a dispute that he believed had been resolved, only for an arrest warrant to be issued three weeks later. Charlo was initially charged with three counts of felony second-degree robbery, although all charges were dropped, investigators secured video evidence to support the boxer’s denial of any wrongdoing in the matter.
The alleged incident last September is not entirely resolved as far as the Charlo family is concerned. Undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19KOs), Jermall’s twin brother, still faces one charge of making a terroristic threat from a family or household member, a Class A misdemeanor, for who was arrested and charged on March 10. The next court date is scheduled for September 27, although it is possible that Jermell will also see his case dismissed at that time.
Jermall Charlo is back in training camp having previously suffered a back injury that postponed his title defense against Sulecki. A new fight date has not yet been scheduled as this goes to press.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
