Dustin Lance Black's Assault Case Proves Messy in the UK
The details surrounding Dustin Lance Black's alleged assault on BBC Three presenter Teddy Edwardes continues to be messy.
If you don't know, Black is accused of throwing a drink at BBC Three presenter Teddy Edwardes in a London nightclub last year. What's more is Black said he was concussed from the confrontation. Drama!
As reported by Variety, the case has been pushed to November in a U.K. court after the Oscar-winning screenwriter flew back to London expecting the trail to resolved in a day. He was accompanied by his legal team when he arrived to the Westminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday but apparently the hearing had been usurped by a higher priority case.
"After an hour of to-ing and fro-ing, Black's trial was moved to Court 1 with Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring presiding over it," Variety reports.
Moreover, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is bringing the case against Black, reportedly lost a file containing Edwardes' police interview and no transcript was available. And the cherry on top is that the officer who conducted the live interview was not available to confirm whether she had body-cam footage or any notes from the interview.
Mess!
Black's team is using all this as grounds for a dismissal. His lawyer quipped rather it was in the public's best interest to proceed with the trial and "take another day of the court's time at significant expense to the public purse and to the defendant."
The presiding judge even agreed that it was "not the most evidentially strong case" and said sentencing would fall somewhere between a fine and a "low level community order."
Sounds like Black might get off with a slap on the wrist as long as everyone continues to keep their hands and their drinks to themselves.
Edwardes was also present in court.