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Judge releases Atlantic City officer charged in domestic violence case

Warren Young had his first appearance from the Atlantic County jail Dec. 20.


  • Crime-Courts

An Atlantic City police officer accused of brandishing his service weapon at his wife during one of several alleged domestic violence incidents will get to fight his case from the street.

Warren Young, 29, was ordered released from jail Friday, after a second detention hearing.

Defense attorney Durann Neil had the issue reopened after submitting text messages between the estranged spouses that included one where the alleged victim said her fear of Young was not physical but that she was afraid he would cheat on her.

Neil also pointed to the woman dropping the restraining order against Young in Family Court.

Young has been jailed since Dec. 20, after he allegedly brandished his service weapon during an argument sometime between March 1 and April 30.

"I won't let you hurt me again," he yelled at her during that confrontation, according to the affidavit of probable cause previously reported by BreakingAC.

Summonses were issued in other incidents dating to last January, when he allegedly held scissors to his wife’s neck. 

At the first detention hearing last month, Neil questioned how the woman could not remember when the gun incident allegedly occurred with greater accuracy than a two-month timeframe.

Young's training that would stress "never to point a firearm unless justified or necessary" coupled with prior incidents of domestic violence was enough to convince Judge Dorothy Garrabrant to hold Young at his first detention hearing.

But additional texts along with the estranged wife's decision to drop the temporary restraining order rather than make it permanent swayed the judge the other way this time.

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Young was still listed in the Cape May County jail Friday night, but was expected to be released before the day was out, his attorney said.

"We are glad that the judge reviewed the additional information and released Mr. Young," Neil said. "We look forward to litigating this matter in court and proving Mr. Young's innocence."

Neil previously gave an impassioned argument claiming, among other issues, a conflict of interest due to the victim’s relationships in Atlantic City.

That includes her stepfather, a captain in the Atlantic City Police Department who Neil claims dissuaded Young from filing charges against his wife when she admitted to "slicing" Young during another incident in 2020. A complaint filed by Young in that incident is still pending. It has not been put into the system at this time.

She claimed it was in self-defense. 

Young claims it was an attack after which his father-in-law talked him out of filing any police report against his wife.


author

Lynda Cohen

BreakingAC founder who previously worked in newspapers for more than two decades. She is an NJPA award-winner and was a Stories of Atlantic City fellow.

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