PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man originally accused of three separate domestic violence offenses will go through a diversion program in Clallam County rather than face a jury trial or guilty plea.
Andrew David Nilsson, 27, was ordered last week to abide by the terms of a diversion agreement, which include not owning a firearm and participating in chemical dependency treatment, or be found guilty of one count each of harassment and fourth-degree assault-domestic violence, said John Troberg, Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney.
According to the diversion agreement, the harassment and fourth-degree assault-domestic violence charges against Nilsson will be dropped in one year if Nilsson participates in the diversion program for that time.
If Nilsson deviates from the diversion terms, he will be found guilty without a trial, as agreed to in the diversion agreement, and serve anywhere from one to 365 days in jail for each charge, Troberg said Tuesday.
Troberg said he worked with Nilsson’s public defender, Loren Oakley, to develop the terms of the diversion agreement after Nilsson’s alleged victim in the domestic violence case refused to testify against Nilsson, who was released from the Clallam County jail last week.
“[The alleged victim] clearly didn’t want to go to trial,” Troberg said. “She didn’t want to have Mr. Nilsson convicted of anything.”
Troberg said he also reduced the charges against Nilsson in response to the alleged victim’s denial that any of Nilsson’s alleged abuses every took place.
“[With] these particular facts, the case was almost impossible to prosecute without cooperation from the [alleged] victim, and she made it very clear I was not going to get that cooperation,” Troberg said.
Last October, Troberg charged Nilsson with one count of harassment/threats to kill and one count each of second-degree assault/strangulation, unlawful imprisonment, harassment/threats to kill and fourth-degree assault, all of which are domestic-violence-related.
Nilsson was accused of assaulting the alleged victim multiple times from Sept. 26-30 in Port Angeles and allegedly threatened friends of the alleged victim with death.
Port Angeles Police set out to arrest Nilsson in connection with this case Oct. 3 but did not find him at his Eighth Street home.
Police did find at the home a small, homemade explosive device, of which the State Patrol bomb squad later disposed.
Nilsson was arrested in Bellflower, Calif., for investigation of unrelated charges Nov. 19 and shipped back up to Clallam County the last week of January to face the charges against him.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
