ORLANDO - A woman badly beaten by her boyfriend faces a battery charge for slapping him after he was arrested.
The boyfriend, meanwhile, has been freed of his charges.
Cynthia Williams' face was fractured in several places, and she suffered small cuts on her head and body when her boyfriend beat her repeatedly as she screamed for help Jan. 9, according to police reports.
After an Orange County Sheriff's Office deputy placed boyfriend Peter Lamb Reddy in handcuffs, Williams slapped Reddy in the face.
"You shouldn't have done that in front of me," Williams said the deputy told her. She was charged with misdemeanor battery.
Now prosecutors have dropped the felony charge against Reddy, saying the case fell apart because Williams refused to testify. She said she didn't want to incriminate herself about the slap.
"I cannot deny that I slapped him," said Williams, who is now living in Oklahoma. "But I think (being prosecuted) is absurd. ... He tried to kill me."
"They are dropping the charges against the assailant and going after the victim for a misdemeanor," said her defense attorney, M. Diane Checchio. "What kind of message does this send to this victim and others who hear her story?"
Prosecutors say Williams, 45, would not cooperate unless they reduced her charge to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Williams said she also turned down a plea offer for one year of probation and battery counseling because she doesn't think she deserves a criminal conviction.
"I would like for them to dismiss the charges against me, like they did him," she said.
