Artem Chigvintsev will not be charged following his arrest on suspicion of felony domestic violence.
On Tuesday, Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley announced that her office has declined to file criminal charges after reviewing the investigation and evaluating all of the evidence.
Haley says her office feels it doesn’t have the evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Artem committed a crime. With that being said, criminal charges could be filed in the future if new facts or evidence come to light.
Artem was arrested for felony domestic violence on August 29th. He was released on a $25,000 bond later that day.
Garcia has since hired a divorce attorney. She is currently living with their 4-year-old son, Matteo, in the family’s Napa Valley home. Chigvintsev is reportedly still living with a friend.
You can check out the official statement from the District Attorney’s Office below:
Napa County DA Declines to File Criminal Charges Against Artem Chigvintsev
Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley announced today that her office has declined to file criminal charges against Artem Chigvintsev, age 42, in connection with his arrest on suspicion of felony domestic violence. The decision to not file charges against Mr. Chigvintsev was made after a thorough review of the criminal investigation and careful evaluation of the evidence presented to the DA’s Office.
“While we take every arrest seriously and stand firmly against domestic violence, we have an ethical obligation to only file charges when supported by the evidence,” Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley said. “We are required to prove any and every criminal charge ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ which is the highest standard in the American criminal justice system. If the available evidence doesn’t rise to this level of proof, then we cannot ethically file charges.”
Domestic violence can either be filed as a felony or a misdemeanor and has a statute of limitations of three years or one year, respectively. At any time within the statute of limitations, the Napa County District Attorney’s Office may revisit the case if it learns of other incidents, or otherwise learns of facts or evidence not previously known.
The Napa County District Attorney’s Victim Services Division works closely with victims of domestic violence and other crimes and links them to available resources whether charges are filed or not DA Haley said.
The Napa County District Attorney’s Office does not typically issue press releases when it declines to file charges against any given individual; however, did so for this case due to the intense media interest it has received since Mr. Chigvintsev’s arrest.
The Napa County District Attorney’s Office will not be releasing any further information about this case, including the identity of the alleged victim, and any questions pertaining to this case may be directed to Public Affairs and Media Officer Carlos Villatoro.
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