Criminal cases that involved lawyers’ spitting and shoving match are resolved
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Two cases brought by a personal injury lawyer and the father of another attorney after they got into a spitting and shoving match are no longer sitting in criminal court in Providence, Rhode Island.
Last week, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha filed the assault case against attorney Stephen J. Dennis for one year and also intervened in the private criminal complaint that Dennis filed against Augusto Campopiano Jr., the father of a lawyer whom Dennis was suing over legal fees, the Providence Journal reports.
The case against Dennis will be dismissed if he stays out of trouble.
“I think the attorney general did the right thing and recognized both this case and the other case both did not need to be in the criminal justice system,” Dennis’ lawyer Jeffrey Pine told the Providence Journal.
Pine also told the Providence Journal that it was unusual to see a filing without an acknowledgement of responsibility and the attorney general dismissing a private complaint. According to the Providence Journal, Rhode Island permits citizens to file criminal complaints for misdemeanors.
“It’s not common, but nothing about these cases was common,” Pine said. “We reached an uncommon result.”
The fight started after Dennis and Campopiano ran into each other in a downtown law office lobby and began discussing Dennis’ suit against Campopiano’s son, Michael Campopiano.
Dennis was charged in early December 2018 and filed the private complaint against Campopiano later.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “See the video: Lawyer arrested for allegedly spitting on father of former colleague”
