Former Florida prosecutor suspended for sex with the victim in his domestic violence case
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An Orlando attorney, once an Orange County assistant state attorney, will begin his suspension Saturday for having sex with a domestic violence victim while handling her case.
The state Supreme Court handed down a 90-day suspension as an attorney for Abraham Elmazahi, who joined the Florida Bar in 2018.
According to Elmazahi’s guilty plea for consent judgment in this Florida Bar ethics matter, he had a misdemeanor domestic violence battery and violation of a domestic violence restraining order case involving John Neal. After the decision had been made to charge Neal, but while the case was going on, Elmazahi met and started a sexual relationship with the victim.
Neal allegedly violated the restraining order again and Elmazahi filed the charge in this second case. He got fired for that.
An investigation into the matter by the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office found that Elmazahi’s decisions made during the case were “objectively supported” by the facts of the case. But his relationship with the victim still was “improper and created a conflict of interest and he should’ve informed his office and opposing counsel of the relationship and withdrawn from the case.”
This story was originally published July 4, 2021 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Former Florida prosecutor suspended for sex with the victim in his domestic violence case."
