Domestic violence charges were dropped against Milan Lucic, now on the Boston Ruins' roster, on Friday.Lucic was arrested in November on suspicion of assault and battery on a family member, a crime that comes with a maximum penalty of a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Prosecutors said they could not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt because Lucic’s wife, Brittany Lucic, invoked marital privilege, meaning she couldn’t testify against her husband. Once she opted out of testifying, prosecutors were denied a motion to add the 911 call into evidence, which they said effectively ended their case.“This situation is something prosecutors encounter quite often in matters involving domestic violence charges. We handled this case exactly as we would any other presenting a similar set of circumstances,” James Borghesani, chief of communications for Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, said in a statement, per Global News. In November, Lucic was arraigned on an assault charge after being arrested when his wife called the police and said he had attempted to choke her. A Boston Police Department report describes Lucic as appearing intoxicated the night of the alleged assault. Brittany Lucic told the officers that evening her husband had pulled her hair, but said he did not try to strangle her. She declined to accept an offer of medical treatment. Lucic was allowed out on bail on personal recognizance after pleading not guilty to assault charges. Terms of his bail were not drinking and not assaulting his wife. He took an indefinite leave of absence from the team.
