In a hearing yesterday, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Migna Sanchez-Llorens dismissed charges against Frita Man owner Jean Beltran, closing the case with a "no action" disposition. Beltran was arrested April 9 after Grill Master Cafe food truck owner Raymond Delgado accused him of pulling a gun outside his home.
According to Beltran's attorney, Jorge Del Villar, the State Attorney's Office decided to drop all charges because it could not prove the case. Beltran was released from jail April 23 but had to wait until the formal hearing April 30 for the judge to close the file.
Del Villar told Short Order that even though the burden of guilt is
placed on the state to find a defendant guilty, he has ample proof of Beltran's innocence. "We have witnesses who can account for every
minute of Mr. Beltran's day. We also have a video from a neighbor that
shows Mr. Beltran's comings and goings throughout the day." Del
Villar said several people have come forward to attest that
Beltran was either with business associates or his son during the time in question.
Del
Villar also said phone records indicate several conversations
among Beltran, accuser Raymond Delgado, and Delgado's wife the day of
Beltran's arrest that occurred around 3:45 p.m. According to the arrest
record and affidavit, Delgado claims Beltran pulled a gun on him at his home around 3 p.m.
Though
the aggravated assault case has been dropped, Del Villar said there's still
an issue pending regarding Beltran's violation of probation, even though
no handgun was found. "He doesn't own a handgun," Del Villar said.
"He's a family man. He made a mistake once. Our main concern now is to
stop this. Mr. Beltran is at the point where he's gone so far as to ask
the court to assign him a GPS tracking monitor. He'd rather have
everyone know where he is than to go through this again."
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