Coty Mcdonnel - case dismissed

[jmorris]

I know it was discussed here but my search-fu is weak this morning. From the neighbor's Facebook page.
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CASE DISMISSED! It was nearly a year ago that my neighbor, Coty McDonnell was arrested while making a citizen's arrest of three men who he believed were attempting to break into my house. Justice has been served and this case was dismissed. We were ready to go to trial until the DA offered a pretrial diversion, effectively dismissing the case after only 3 months.

The travesty is that a law abiding citizen trying to protect his home and his neighbor's home had to go through a very expensive process to get his name cleared. Under a pretrial diversion, Coty will be able to get the records expunged, but those are additional costs on top of what was already spent, not including the night in jail and the weekly check-in with the bail bondsman.

Here is Coty taking a selfie outside the Police Department, and here is a better picture of him with his weapon. For those of you not familiar with Texas law, it is completely legal to open carry a long rifle in public. We proved that when we did our protest march in downtown San Antonio and marched fully armed down to the Bexar County Courthouse.

What happened to the people trying to break into my home? Nothing. It was never even investigated. Now that Coty's case has been dismissed and his weapon returned, it is time for me to turn up the heat. Elected officials beware...I'm coming.

[The Annoyed Man]

I found no other references on this forum either, but here are some news links:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/ ... 613639.php
https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/open-c ... z4sUmyoJTb
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/ ... 147062.php
https://www.ksat.com/news/battle-over-d ... rty-rights
https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/arc ... ighborhood

Etc., etc. Sounds to me like Coty was being a good neighbor, and inasmuch as nobody got ventilated (necessarily or not), he also acted responsibly. I like a happy ending, although the part about accumulating expenses sucks. Is there any likelihood of maybe hosting a fundraising BBQ or something like that?

[jmorris]

There have been fundraisers but I don't know if any further are planned.

[dlh]

Normally a defendant pays a "pre-trial diversion fee." I assume he paid one in this case--don't know for sure. A shame. He should not have had to pay a dime. Sometimes a District Attorney wants a "pound of flesh"...other times they settle for an ounce...Sounds like the latter in this case.