Clark County prosecutors dropped all charges against Nick Diaz on Thursday, hours before the UFC fighter was set to attend a preliminary hearing in front of a Las Vegas judge.
Diaz was facing three felony charges and a misdemeanor, all of which stemmed from an alleged domestic violence incident that took place in May.
Attorney: ‘Total Vindication’ for Diaz
Diaz was arrested on May 24 after a women accused him of choking her and slamming her to the ground, causing a hip injury. A grand jury failed to indict Diaz last month, but prosecutors still said they were going to proceed with the case until it was dropped on Thursday.
In an email, Diaz’s attorney Ross Goodman told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the woman had made “inconsistent” statements about the incident, and that the dismissal represented a fair outcome for his client.
“We are grateful that the District Attorney’s office was fair and thoughtful in reviewing this case based on the evidence and making the decision to dismiss this matter,” Goodman wrote. “Truth delayed is better than no truth at all, and I trust that the ultimate dismissal…will be viewed as total vindication for Nick and clears his name from being associated with such horrific but false allegations.”
ESPN requested comment from the Clark County District Attorney’s office about why the case was dropped, but reported that they did not receive an immediate response.
Grand Juries Rarely Fail to Indict
The dismissal was accepted by Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Amy Chelini, who referenced a famous cliché about grand juries to explain why the charges should be dropped.
“They say you can indict a ham sandwich, so that tells me everything I need to know,” Chelini said. “The frustrating thing for me is we have a lot of true victims out there, and when you see stuff like this and you take strained resources from the true victims, and it’s frustrating for the court. But you did the right thing.”
Grand juries are known for virtually always indicting individuals who have been accused of a crime by prosecutors. For instance, in the period from October 2009 to September 2010, federal grand juries chose to indict over 99.99 percent of the time, making a failure to do so a truly extraordinary circumstance.
Diaz addressed the dismissal on Twitter, saying he was “grateful this case is finally over.”
“I want to thank my team and my lawyer Ross Goodman for the excellent work,” he wrote. “But most importantly, I want to thank the fans who stuck by me throughout this process. I’m happy to put this chapter of my life behind me and I’m looking forward to focusing on my return.”
Nick Diaz (26-9) is a UFC welterweight who last fought in 2015. That fight, which ended in a unanimous decision loss to Anderson Silva, was later declared a no contest after both fighters failed drug tests. Diaz was previously the welterweight champion in Strikeforce, winning the title in 2010 with a victory over Marius Zaromskis.
