[CA] Deputy Thompson attempted murder of wife charges dropped (because?)

Kern County Sheriff's Reserve Deputy Charles Thompson

DROPPED CHARGES: ATTEMPTED MURDER, SPOUSAL ABUSE TORTURE AND FALSE IMPRISONMENT WITH VIOLENCE.

...WHEN OFFICERS GOT TO THE HOME, THEY SAID THOMPSON CAME DOWN A HALLWAY SAYING: "I WENT A LITTLE TOO FAR." THE WOMAN WAS FOUND IN THE BEDROOM, AND TOLD POLICE HER HUSBAND STARTED CHOKING HER WITH HIS BARE HANDS UNTIL SHE FELL, AND THEN HE TRIED CHOKING HER WITH THE TIE OF A BATHROBE... SHE SAID HE ATTACKED HER, STRANGLING HER BY TIGHTENING A BATHROBE BELT AND THEN RELEASING IT 25 TO 30 TIMES, WHILE ALSO PUTTING HIS BODY WEIGHT ON HER BAD KNEE, CAUSING HER "EXCRUCIATING PAIN"... CHARLES THOMPSON'S WIFE CLAIMS SHE WAS NAGGING HIM... SHE TOLD OFFICERS SHE WAS UPSET BECAUSE THOMPSON HAD LET HER 16-YEAR-OLD DOG OUT A FEW MONTHS AGO AND IT DROWNED, AND IN NOVEMBER HE ALLEGEDLY PUT ONE OF HER CATS IN THE DRYER... THOMPSON TOLD OFFICERS HE DID NOT REMEMBER ATTACKING HER...

CHARGES DROPPED FOR RESERVE DEPUTY ACCUSED OF TRYING TO KILL WIFE: Charles Thompson To Serve 3 Years Probation
turnto23.com
November 3, 2011
[Excerpts] A Kern County reserve sheriff's deputy accused of trying to kill his wife will not go to trial. The attempted murder charges against Charles Thompson have been dropped by the District Attorney's Office... 6:30 p.m. Aug. 13, Thompson, 54, called in a request for an ambulance stating that a woman had fallen in a home... Thompson was also charged with torture and false imprisonment. Those charges were dropped. He pleaded not guilty to one charge of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse. His wife told police he tried to strangle her repeatedly and police said her injuries supported those allegations. Thompson was sentenced to three years probation... There has been no information as to why the charges were dropped. [Full article here]

MAN WHO HAS SERVED AS RESERVE DEPUTY PLEADS NO CONTEST TO SPOUSAL ABUSE
Bakersfield Californian
Wednesday, Nov 02 2011 04:41 PM
[Excerpts] ...[Kern County Sheriff's reserve deputy] Charles Arthur Thompson was sentenced to six days in jail but was given credit for time served... A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 2 to determine that Thompson has complied with court orders to attend counseling and perform community service. Felony charges of attempted murder, torture and false imprisonment with violence were dismissed... Thompson was arrested in mid-August after both he and his wife placed emergency calls... The woman said Thompson knocked her to the ground and wrapped a terry cloth bathrobe belt around her neck... The woman - described as disabled and using a crutch to get around - said Thompson released and reapplied pressure around her neck about 25 times over an hour and a half, the probable cause declaration said. This caused the woman to black out at least five times, the document says. There were marks on the woman's neck and petechial hemorrhaging in her eyes, which were consistent with her allegations, the declaration says... [Full article here]

EARLIER EXCERPTS

RESERVE DEPUTY PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN SPOUSAL ABUSE CASE
Californian
By Jill Cowan
Aug 16 2011
[Excerpts] ... [Kern County Reserve Sheriff's deputy Charles Thompson] pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of attempted murder, torture, spousal abuse and false imprisonment with violence... Thompson was arraigned in Kern County Superior Court before Judge Colette M. Humphrey. Sheriff's department officials said 58-year-old Thompson has been involved with the department for many years... Humphrey issued a protective order for the woman, saying it is based on a likelihood of future violence. The order, among other things, does not allow Thompson to come within 500 yards of the woman, nor is he allowed to own or possess weapons. Thompson's case was assigned to the public defender and his bail has been set at $530,000, according to the Kern County Sheriff's Department website. Sheriff Donny Youngblood said Tuesday he couldn't comment in detail on what he called "the administrative portion" of the case, which he said his department will handle... [Full article here]

RESERVE DEPUTY ACCUSED OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
turnto23.com
Elaina Rusk
August 22, 2011
[Excerpts] A newly obtained police report is shedding light on what may have happened between a Kern County reserve deputy and his wife the night she was found in their home with strangulation marks on her neck. 23ABC has obtained the police report, which says Charles Thompson's wife claims she was nagging him, and he attacked her, strangling her by tightening a bathrobe belt and then releasing it 25 to 30 times, while also putting his body weight on her bad knee, causing her "excruciating pain." it all started around 5 p.m. Saturday, August 13th. Bakersfield Police said 54-year-old Charles Thompson called for an ambulance at his home on Cochran Drive, telling fire crews his wife fell. But a disabled 60-year-old woman at the home called police for help saying Thompson attacked her, and then the phone disconnected. When officers got to the home, they said Thompson came down a hallway saying: "I went a little too far." The woman was found in the bedroom, and told police her husband started choking her with his bare hands until she fell, and then he tried choking her with the tie of a bathrobe. Police said the woman's injuries supported her allegations, including a red mark around her neck and scratch marks on her chest, along with a hoarse voice and petechial hemorrhaging in her eyes. In an interview at Kern Medical Center, she told officers she was upset because Thompson had let her 16-year-old dog out a few months ago and it drowned, and in November he allegedly put one of her cats in the dryer. She said they both had been drinking, and she had been complaining all day about her dog dying, and was yelling to him to the point he was crying. She told police she used the bathroom, and that's when she told officers he came in and tried to strangle her repeatedly, over a course of an hour and 40 minutes. But when questioned, Thompson told officers he did not remember attacking her, only that she was disabled and had been drinking and couldn't walk well and he was trying to help her. He said she fell when he left the room to get her a chair, and he called for help.... [Full article here]
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