Miscellaneous
Paul Ripp goes to the Fairhope City Council Meeting to get some answers surrounding the alleged mishandling of the case detailed below. As you will see the wagons circle, adults are told they don't understand plain language, and the Council- when cornered- adjourn the meeting. The idea that something like this is going on should make you go to the meeting next time to advocate for the victims. If you are a resident of Fairhope, you are a victim of this miscarriage of justice as well. You paid good money for it. MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — The assault charge against Ronan McSharry, owner of McSharry’s Irish Pub in Fairhope, has been dismissed by a Baldwin County Circuit Judge. On Thanksgiving Day 2018, McSharry was accused of pushing a Fairhope woman off a barstool at a different Fairhope establishment. The victim in the case was alleged to have suffered a concussion from the incident. McSharry was convicted of Assault 3rd degree in Fairhope Municipal Court in April of 2019. He appealed that conviction. During the appeal, defense attorney John Beck filed a motion to dismiss the charge because the complaint “does not charge an essential element of the charge of Assault in the Third Degree.” The complaint, as originally filed in Fairhope Municipal Court, reads as follows: OFFENDER, RONAN FRANCIS MCSHARRY, DID, WITH INTENT TO CAUSE PHYSICAL INJURY TO ANOTHER PERSON, TO WIT: PAULA DINARDI, BY PUSHING HER IN THE CHEST AGGRESSIVELY AND PUSHING HER OFF HER BAR STOOL. THESE EVENTS OCCURRED IN THE POLICE JURISDICTION OF FAIRHOPE, AL. The Alabama definition of Assault in the Third Degree states: A person commits the crime of assault in the third degree if: (i)With intent to cause physical injury to another person, he causes physical injury to any person Beck argued in the filing that because the complaint doesn’t allege that an injury happened, the charge should be dismissed. McSharrys attorney filed the motion to dismiss on January 7, 2020, but the response wasn’t filed by Fairhope’s attorney Marcus McDowell until January 22, 2020. On the same day, McDowell also filed a motion to amend the complaint to correct the alleged error, that motion was denied and the case was dismissed by Baldwin County Circuit Judge Clark Stankoski on March 27. Attorneys are given seven days to file responses to motions, according to the Alabama Rules for Criminal Procedures. John Beck tells NBC 15 that the one-year statute of limitations on misdemeanors had also passed by the time the motion to amend the complaint was filed. Court records indicate that on two separate occasions, the Fairhope City prosecutor failed to file paperwork with the court within the legally allowed timeframe. An appeal filed by Fairhope to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals challenging the dismissal wasn’t filed until April 17, 2020. The appeals court denied that appeal request. McSharry still faces a public intoxication charge.