[US] FBI Agent Spicocchi - where did his piddly dv assault charge go?

Don't let the wording throw you off. This guy is STILL an FBI agent - just not top agent in Toledo anymore. "A woman" means his girlfriend, and he's married. There are too many outrages to this case but what I'd like to know first is how the ASSAULT charge could have ever been a measly misdemeanor in the first place, and what could the justification be for dropping it?

FBI agent with ties here in court again
Toledo Blade, OH
Friday, October 19, 2007
The former special agent in charge of the Toledo FBI office appeared in an Arlington, Va., courtroom yesterday for a preliminary hearing on charges that he held a woman against her will in August. Carl Lee Spicocchi, 55, is charged with ABDUCTION and USE OF A FIREARM IN THE COMMISSION OF A FELONY, both felonies. HE ALSO WAS CHARGED PREVIOUSLY WITH ASSAULT AND BATTERY, A MISDEMEANOR, BUT PROSECUTORS HAVE DECIDED NOT TO PURSUE THAT CHARGE... The case will be presented to a grand jury, which meets Nov. 19... Mr. Spicocchi will appear in court Nov. 21 to hear the grand jury's decision... Mr. Spicocchi is accused of HOLDING A WOMAN AGAINST HER WILL FOR ABOUT 5 1/2 HOURS AUG. 23 IN HER APARTMENT... Mr. Spicocchi, who joined the Toledo office as its supervisory special agent in April, 2000, has been on temporary assignment for about 18 months as a supervisor at the FBI headquarters in Washington.

We get a better idea of what happened TO his girlfriend and more DISGUST about the DROPPED ASSAULT AND BATTERY CHARGE from these excerpts in last months article:
FBI Official Charged With Abduction, Assault
Washington Post
By Daniela Deane
September 13, 2007
For nearly six hours, a senior FBI official terrorized his Arlington County girlfriend, at times HOLDING HER AT KNIFEPOINT IN HER CLOSET, DRAGGING HER AROUND THE APARTMENT BY HER HAIR AND FORCING A GUN INTO HER MOUTH in a jealous, drunken rage... Spicocchi, who ran the JOINT TERRORISM TASK FORCE in Toledo, has also been charged with misdemeanor assault and battery in the alleged Aug. 23 incident at the luxury high-rise Buchanan apartment building in Crystal City... Prosecutors said BOND SHOULD BE DENIED BECAUSE OF SPICOCCHI'S ACCESS TO FIREARMS THROUGH HIS JOB AND HIS KNOWLEDGE OF SURVEILLANCE AND BECAUSE OF THE ALLEGED TERRORIZATION. The alleged domestic incident, which sources said started because THE WOMAN WANTED TO BREAK UP WITH SPICOCCHI, ended when a neighbor called Arlington police at 10:36 p.m. to report that A WOMAN WAS SCREAMING THAT SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO KILL HER... a spokesman for the FBI office in Cleveland. Wilson said THE FBI WOULD INVESTIGATE the allegations... the woman, who called herself his girlfriend, said the two had stayed at her place the night before the alleged assault... As she drove away from the building later in the morning, she saw SPICOCCHI DUCKING IN HIS CAR AT THE CORNER, WATCHING HER. She confronted him... He CALLED HER REPEATEDLY throughout the day... When she returned to the apartment at South 23rd Street about two hours later, HE WAS HIDING IN THE CLOSET, A KITCHEN KNIFE AND TAPE IN HIS HANDS, she told police. He HELD HER IN THE CLOSET FOR ABOUT AN HOUR, THRUSTING THE KNIFE AT HER THROAT SEVERAL times... he HELD HER IN THE BATHROOM, where he FIRED HIS GUN AND FORCED IT INTO HER MOUTH SEVERAL TIMES... He repeatedly SLAPPED HER AND THREATENED TO KILL HER, she said... She also told police that SHE THOUGHT HE WAS RECORDING THE INCIDENT with a silver device and THAT HE OWNED FOUR GUNS. Police found Spicocchi in a hallway of the building after the neighbor's call, they said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18.