Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, will not face felony domestic violence charges over an incident in which he had what his attorneys described as “an argument” with actress Mareli Miniutti in his Los Angeles apartment on Novmebr 14, as AVN.com reported. But though Avenatti still faces a potential misdemeanor charge in the incident, he took to Twitter on Friday to tout his record of representing “women in their causes.”
“I have been successfully advocating for women and women’s rights my entire career (nearly 20 yrs). I have repeatedly agreed to represent women in their causes when nobody else would touch their case,” Avenatti wrote. “I am innocent and will not be intimidated into stopping speaking truth to power.”
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday said it would not pursue a felony charge against Avenatti, but added that the case had been referred to the Los Angeles City Attorney for a possible misdemeanor charge against the high-profile lawyer, who has parlayed his representation of Daniels in her lawsuit against Donald Trump into a seemingly relentless series of TV appearances and nationwide fame.
As AVN.com reported earlier this week, according to statements in a court filing by Miniutti, Avenatti became verbally abusive during the argument, struck her with pillows and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her out of the apartment in the city’s high-end Century City district.
Miniutti’s account, however, differed sharply and in important respects from the initial media account of the incident by the gossip site TMZ, which claimed that the victim suffered significant facial bruises, and that Avenatti claimed, “She hit me first,” before chasing her inside the building.
Those reports are contradicted by Miniutti’s own sworn account. Nonetheless, Avenatti’s own lawyers appeared to cast blame on Miniutti for the incident in a statement.
"Ms. Miniutti and Mr. Avenatti had an argument while in Mr. Avenatti's apartment during which Ms. Miniutti behaved in a volatile, agitated and irrational manner,” lawyers Evan Jenness and Richard Beada said. “However, Mr. Avenatti did not inflict any corporal injury or cause any traumatic condition upon Ms. Miniutti.”
But Miniutti’s lawyer, Michael Bachner, said that the actress stands by her sworn account.
"Given the nature of Ms. Miniutti's injuries, we are not surprised by the decision not to bring felony charges," Bachner said in a CNN interview "However, we are confident that misdemeanor charges are warranted."
Avenatti on Friday continued to allege that 20-year-old right-wing conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl was behind what Avenatti has called a political set-up that resulted in his arrest. Wohl was earlier part of a scheme to fabricate sexual assault allegations against Russia investigation Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
“Jacob Wohl is a complete fraud who will ultimately be prosecuted for fabricating allegations against me and Mueller,” Aevantti wrote on Twitter. “He deserves to be incarcerated to the fullest extent of the law. And he will be.”
Photo by Joe Flood / Flickr Creative Commons
