Chapter 20 - WHY ETHAN WAS NOT CHARGED WITH THE ASSAULTI wanted Ethan charged.
At first.
I told Denise:
“He let it happen.”
“Yes.”
“He smiled.”
“Yes.”
“He moved.”
“Yes.”
“He brought her.”
“Yes.”
“How is that not helping?”
“Morally and criminally are different questions.”
Prosecutors examined aiding-and-abetting theories.
The problem:
No proof he told Kelsey to hit me.
No proof of advance agreement.
No proof his step aside was intended to facilitate the strike rather than avoid the confrontation.
The smile looked terrible.
Failure to intervene looked terrible.
Neither automatically satisfied a criminal statute.
He was not charged for Kelsey’s assault.
I hated that for several weeks.
Then understood something.
May you like
A criminal acquittal or noncharge would never tell me whether I should remain married to him.
I did not need a prosecutor to answer that.
