DALLAS _ A day after Dallas police issued a warrant for her arrest, the Dallas County district attorney's office has declined to prosecute a felony case against the woman hospitalized after being beaten last month.
District attorney's office spokeswoman Kim Leach confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the criminal mischief warrant for 24-year-old L'Daijohnique Lee had been recalled.
Austin Shuffield, 30, was filmed punching Lee repeatedly in the early morning hours of March 21 in the Deep Ellum neighborhood. He faces four misdemeanor charges in the attack, and Dallas police referred a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon to a Dallas County grand jury.
News that Dallas police had sought to arrest Lee on a felony charge was met with outrage and a protest Wednesday at City Hall by civil rights groups.
Lee Merritt, Lee's attorney, said Wednesday that he was relieved to hear that the district attorney had declined to prosecute. But he was "ashamed of the Dallas Police Department," he said.
"The DA did what was right, what they were supposed to do in this situation," Merritt said. "But it's an embarrassment that these charges were brought forward."
The Dallas Police Department said in a statement Wednesday that it is the district attorney's decision whether to prosecute any case sent to his office. The Police Department's role, it said, is to investigate any offense to determine if there was a violation of the law.
"The decision to file charges against L'Daijohnique Lee was based on her admission, evidence at the scene and statements obtained from witnesses," police said.
On Tuesday, police defended the decision to charge Lee after they say she admitted to breaking the back window of Shuffield's truck.
Deputy Chief Thomas Castro said at a news conference that police have to take everyone's rights and all circumstances into account when determining charges against a person.
"In this case, based on (Lee's) own admission," Castro said, "it was pretty clear that she committed that offense."
The warrant for Lee's arrest caught Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot by surprise, prompting a written statement from his office Tuesday.
"The district attorney had no prior knowledge that an arrest warrant was issued," the statement said. "When and if charges reach the district attorney's office, we will take appropriate action."
Dallas attorney Messina Madson, a former top prosecutor at the Dallas County DA's office, said typically law enforcement would have an informal conversation with prosecutors before seeking an arrest warrant for someone who appears to be the victim of a crime.
"The one component that seems unusual is that Dallas police didn't seem to collaborate with the district attorney's office," said Madson. "They should have had a discussion before filing."
Madson said the district attorney's office is "well within its right to declined to prosecute."
Madson said it's common for police and prosecutors to be faced with a decision whether to prosecute someone, especially in family violence cases. Madson said a choice must be made to determine who was the aggressor, whose actions were the most egregious.
The questions to ask, she said are: "What is a just outcome?" and "We can, but should we?"
Madson is now a defense attorney but she ran the district attorney's office while former DA Susan Hawk was away for health reasons and then resigned.
Shuffield's attorney said the public hasn't heard the whole story about what happened and media coverage has been "one-sided."
But the attorney, JR Cook, declined to comment Wednesday about the details of the incident, which was captured on cellphone video. He did say the arrest warrant issued this week for the woman whom Shuffield is accused of assaulting proves there is more to what happened.
Cook said he would tell Shuffield's side in court.
"We're going to present our side quietly," Cook said, "the way it's supposed to be done."
Shuffield told an officer he acted in self-defense after Lee hit him, the affidavit states.
On Wednesday, protesters demonstrated at City Hall, calling for the charge to be dropped against Lee, who is black.
About two dozen protesters led by organizer Dominique Alexander walked the halls after the City Council took a recess just before 11 a.m.
Comparing the case to the Botham Jean shooting, in which a black man was killed by an off-duty white police officer in uniform, Alexander promised to keep making Dallas police "uncomfortable."
The group marched to chants of "No justice, no peace, no racist police" and "Whose streets? Our streets!"
At one point, Alexander confronted Mike Mata, demanding that the president of the Dallas Police Association answer for the charge. Mata eventually walked away as Alexander kept shouting.
Shuffield's initial arrest on misdemeanor charges set off days of protest, and police then referred the felony assault charge to the grand jury. Police also added a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully carrying a weapon after video showed him holding a handgun during the fight. Police seized a knife and a .45-caliber Glock from his pickup, a gun that authorities say he was not licensed to carry.
Lee told investigators she was dropping off a friend at Deep Ellum Hostel when Shuffield asked her to move her car. He started recording her vehicle and license plates.
Lee then told him to get back and grabbed her phone to call police, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
A cellphone video of the confrontation shows Lee hit Shuffield once after he slapped the phone from her hand and kicked it away from her.
Lee then threw a jump box, a device used to charge a car battery, through the back windshield of Shuffield's truck, according to the affidavit. That part of the confrontation wasn't caught on the video that went viral online.
Shuffield was fired from his job at High & Tight in Deep Ellum.
Police said there was a delay in seeking the now-recalled arrest warrant for Lee because investigators waited to determine the extent of the damage to Shuffield's pickup. This week, he submitted an estimate just over $3,000, and detectives confirmed it Monday, police said.
Criminal mischief is often a misdemeanor, but when the damage total exceeds $2,500, it becomes a state jail felony.
Merritt, the woman's attorney, questioned the logic of the charge against his client. He spoke to reporters Wednesday outside City Hall.
"It's not the role of the Dallas Police Department to come in and re-victimize the victim, she has gone through enough," Merritt said. "She continues to live in fear, as the person who violently assaulted her and pulled a gun on her is free."
