Felony Taser case dismissed when witnesses fail to show up in court
A case against a Ferndale woman accused of using a Taser to stun a housemate multiple times was dismissed after three witnesses failed to show up for a court hearing.
But new charges may be f i led against the woman.
Suspect Caitlin Smith, 23, was arrested after the Aug. 27 incident in the 300 block of Spencer, where police say she and her boyfriend lived with another couple.
Police arrested her after they say she used what people at the house called the “house Taser” when her boy friend fought with the other man at the house.
The three witnesses were the other woman and two men who lived at home.
When all three of them failed to show up for Smith’s preliminary examination in Ferndale 43rd District Court on Monday, Judge Joseph Longo dismissed the case “without prejudice,” leavi n g the door open for prosecutors to again f ile charges against Smith.
“All three witnesses were served subpoenas and nobody showed up for court,” said Ferndale police Community Engagement Officer Jillian Mahlmeister on Tuesday. “They were called afterward and they all said they forgot” about the court date.
Police noted that the man who was stunned with the taser was among the three witnesses.
“One of the challenges (police) have sometimes, especially in domestic situations, is getting the victim to cooperate in the court proceedings,” Mahlmeister said.
It’s possible Oakland County prosecutors will refile the charge against Smith, she added.
Smith was originally charged with possession of a taser, which is a fouryear felony.
She and her boyfriend, 24, were arrested shortly after police received a call from a neighbor reporting people screaming and the sounds of things being broken at the house on Spencer.
Police said an argument between the two men at the house started over accusations of clothes being missing or stolen.
The face- off turned into a fistfight, police said, and Smith was accused of grabbing the Taser and using it on the man fighting with her boyfriend.
He suf fered minor injuries on his shoulders from being zapped with the prongs on the stun gun multiple times, Mahlmeister said.
Officers who arrived at the house to investigate got inconsistent statements from the suspect and three other people at the house.
Smith first said she used the Taser to defend herself, then later said she used it to break up the fight.
Earlier this month, Mahlmeister told the Royal Oak Tribune that the four people living at the housemay have called it the “house Taser” because nobody wanted to claim who owned the stun gun.