Criminal Mischief and Harassment/Threatening

[COSunshine]

**************...

[outonbail]

One of the worse situations people can place themselves in is becoming a participant in a never ending feud with a neighbor. When you own your home and like where you live, I would suggest that you make every effort to resolve any issues as amicably and as neighborly as possible.
Now I realize after reading your post, that if accurate, you really did nothing to instigate this uncalled for reaction by your neighbor, so I can't imagine what issues he must be having to have gone off on you like this. Hence what I am about to suggest may not be possible. However, you may want to get a couple of estimates for the repair of the damage he caused and approach him, either by a letter or possibly a third party who you each know, and offer him the chance to pay for the damages and in exchange you will approach the DA and request the criminal case against him be dismissed.
Since this is not a domestic violence type of situation, I believe that your testimony will be necessary to convict him of these charges. Did the police have you sign a citizen's arrest form?
Either way, I would imagine that you could speak to the district attorney or judge and ask for the case to be dismissed as it was filed due to an unfortunate misunderstanding but has since been worked out in an amicable manner between neighbors.

Some members on the forum may not agree with this approach and I gave it some thought myself before suggesting it. But of course not being witness to the entire situation I can't say whether or not this is a reasonable approach.
However, the reason I suggest this, is because the tension between this neighbor and yourself will certainly not improve subsequent to these legal matters coming to an end and my thoughts are that you want to put this whole incident behind you as soon as possible and still be able to come and go to your home without feeling like you're walking on egg shells all the time.
This guy sure sounds like he is capable of violence against a woman and particularly you! I wouldn't want to cross his path on a daily basis and live with a constant concern for my safety and always be wondering if today's the day he's going to lose it again. I mean if this guys been brewing his anger over the color of a fence for seven years, he must be a real nut case to all of a sudden damage your property and blow up in your face like he did.

If he's had time to cool off and think about the situation like any other rational individual would do, he must by now realize that he is not going to be on the winning end of this case against him. Not in criminal or civil court if it has to go there eventually. So it would certainly be in his best interest to resolve this issue as painfully as possible. Since he is going to be held responsible for the cost of repairing the damages he caused in his state of rage anyway, he would be a fool not to appreciate the offer and chance to avoid the repercussions of being found guilty of the criminal charges he's facing. This would include fines, probation, possibly anger management classes and so on. If you were to file a civil complaint against him seeking payment for these damages, he would not only lose the case and be ordered to pay your actual damages, but he has to consider that additional punitive damages and court costs can be added on top of actual damage costs. So for him to not see all the possibilities of what his actions can snow ball into, he'd have to be a real fool.
From your position, if he just paid you for the damage to your property, then you wouldn't have to be going to court hearings and taking the witness stand to testify against him and dealing with this nightmare for longer than is necessary. Also, his criminal conviction doesn't really do anything for you anyway, so if I were in your position, my concern would be the damages to my property getting repaired and also to stay off this guys enemy list.
Now I would be careful about the way you approach him with this possible resolution, be sure the wording in a letter doesn't sound like your threatening or blackmailing him into doing something.
I would approach it from the position of not wanting to waste everyone's time having to go through a fruitless court proceedings and would prefer to work it out as neighbors so you can remain on good terms with your neighbors, not enemy's. If he's willing, you might even ask him what color wouldn't be offensive to him, that is, if it really doesn't matter to you. Since he's going to be paying for the paint or stain anyway, tell him you'll work with him on the color and in the future if there is something about the way you keep your property or decorate it, to speak to you about it in a friendly neighbor way and you can avoid all this police intervention in the first place.
Again, I'm only suggesting a possible way for you to resolve this issue and at the same time, take yourself out of this guys cross hairs, as the end result would preferably be that you don't have to fear any retaliation or future disputes and threats from this irrational idiot.
Good Luck!

[JustAPal00]

I agree with bail! I lived in a house for 6 1/2 years and had a feud with a neighbor. The previous owner of my home had had a feud for 14 years with her. Some people can't be reasoned with, but it was miserable living next to that wicked old lady! If there is any way you can salvage a civil relationship with him, I would try. My wife says "sometimes it's better to be kind than right!"