When Camus Lorenzo McNair, 24, is finally arraigned on Jan. 2, 2002, it will come after nearly two months of languishing in jail.
There are no winners in this pre-holiday love-triangle - involving a man, his alleged girlfriend and the man's concerned mother.
For McNair, a man of modest means, it's a case of not being with his family during the holidays after nearly 50 days, unable to make bail.
For the girlfriend, it's a case of making charges and then recanting them, only to discover it's too late to stop the apparently slow "wheels of justice" once they begin to roll.
For the mother, now estranged from her son's girlfriend, it's a case of wanting to fight for a son she says has been trying to get his life together before this.
For the police, it's the nightmare of the domestic disturbance, where victims sometimes change their story, either out of regret or fear.
For Key West police Officer E. J. Cohens, it's an all-to-often typical story of a shirtless woman running into the police station in the early morning hours of Nov. 16, wearing only pants and a bra.
Police reported that the distraught woman said she and her Key West boyfriend of 2 and a half years had been arguing. "She said he had been upset and drunk," the officer stated.
She had been in his car, but when the vehicle slowed, she said she successfully jumped out of the car, but not before he ripped off her shirt trying to stop her. That was a little before 5 a.m.
Police put out a BOLO (Be-on-the-lookout) for McNair, an unemployed "worker of odd jobs." He is spotted, but flees on foot into Bill Butler Park.
But about an hour and a half later, the victim returns to the police department to say that she has encountered her boyfriend again and knows where they can find him.
"You might as well come on and get it over with," she quotes him as saying to her. When police asked her what he meant by that, she said he meant, "Come home for your beating."
She said he has beaten her in the past and they have been "getting worse" lately, including "biting her face and knocking her out within the last couple of weeks." The victim further stated to police that she is "very scared of the defendant, but has a place to go, at a friend's house."
Police picked up McNair just where the victim said he would be - at the intersection of Angela and Duval. He was charged with felony false imprisonment, ordered to have no contact with the victim and held on $35,000 bail.
McNair evidently waived his Miranda rights, said police, and spoke to them without benefit of an attorney present. According to police, he said the only reason he grabbed her causing her shirt to rip "was because the vehicle was still moving" when she jumped out.
McNair's mother wrote to Judge Mark Jones on Dec. 3, admitting that her son is no angel, that the torn blouse may have occurred, but questioned the girlfriend's motives, her background and her character. She also questioned the motives of one of the policemen who arrested her son.
Three days later, the victim writes to the judge, saying that she and the jailed McNair "are very much in love and plan on getting married." She too, believes the police "made more out of the situation (than) was there."
She went on to say that she never intended on having him arrested. "Camus did not and has never laid a hand on me. He was not holding me against my will. He was just trying to reason with me."
She said they are "trying to build a life together and do the right thing," adding in conclusion, "I'm asking you to please find it in your heart to release Camus and please lift the no-contact order."
McNair has had several court hearings - on Dec. 6 and 13. And on Dec. 18, state attorney Dean Merten asked to have the case referred to misdemeanor court, reduced the charge to battery and the bail to $500. On Jan. 2, 2002, he is scheduled for arraignment, according to the court clerk.