Los Angeles criminal defense attorney R.J. Manuelian, representing 13-year-old Christian Dorscht pro bono following an altercation in Anaheim with an off-duty Los Angeles police officer. On his way home from school, Dorschy heard cries for help and responded. “He was an honor student doing an honorable thing,” R.J. Manuelian, told the Weekly. “He was defending the 13-year-old, who he thought was being kidnapped.” Sometime thereafter, the off-duty officer fired a shot into the ground.
According to LA Weekly, “When the gun was discharged, it missed my client’s toes by inches,” he says. “It was so close that he felt the grass explode right next to his feet.” The attorney also reports that the teen hasn’t slept well since the incident with recurring nightmares of a gun pointing and shooting at him. The honors student no longer attends Loara High School and has since transferred out of Anaheim.
R.J Manuelian has a proven track record as a Los Angeles criminal defense and civil rights attorney. In 2012 he was able to obtain a $6 million verdict against the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in a civil action against the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for excessive force.
“We’re going to wait and see what the OCDA does first,” Manuelian says. “We’re giving them the opportunity to do the right thing and drop the case. If they don’t, then we will be immediately filing a civil rights lawsuit.”