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Next week's scheduled trial against AEW's Daniel "Cash" Wheeler will not go forward, PWInsider.com has confirmed.
This afternoon, the Prosecutor's office filed "Nolle Prosequi."
The Latin phrase is used in court records as a legal notice that the Prosecution in a legal case has opted to drop and abandon the case. There is no word as to why the Prosecutors made that decision or why it took them until the week before the trial to drop prosecution.
As of this morning, there was a pre-trial hearing set for tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM and a trial slated for 5/20. All of that has been canceled. Wheeler's bond has been released and the case was officially closed as of 3 PM this afternoon.
Wheeler can move forward without any additional worry about legal issues stemming from the situation.
Wheeler had plead not guilty to all charges throughout the legal process. He was originally arrested in August 2023 after a warrant for his arrest was filed on 7/28/23. He originally filed a plea of not guilty via his attorney with the circuit court of Orange County, Florida on 8/3/23. Wheeler turned himself in on 8/17/23 and the next day was arraigned.
The prosecution had claimed that the July 2023 incident leading to Wheeler's arrest was "believed to be a road rage incident" and that during that incident, Wheeler allegedly "flashed a gun" at the other party. During his arraignment in summer 2023, Wheeler's attorney stated that he did not know the other party. The word victims, as in plural, had been used during the proceedings.
Under Florida law, a conviction for aggravated assault with a firearm could have lead to up to five years' imprisonment, five years' probation and a $5,000 fine.
Orange County in Florida released an incident report dated 7/27/23. Cpl. Mitchell Bowhay wrote the following in the report:
"On July 27, 2023, at 0959 I, Officer M. Bowhay #19932, responded to [REDACTED] in reference to an aggravated assault with a firearm call. Upon my arrival I spoke to the victim, Daniel Matta, who provided me with a sworn written/verbal statement that said the following: Matta stated he was driving west on Interstate 4 north of Exit 83. He noticed a Jeep Gladiator weaving in and out of traffic honking its horn, so he moved over to the far-right lane to let the Jeep pass. Matta said the Jeep took the right shoulder to drive around him on the passenger side of his vehicle. Matta looked over and noticed a white male with a beard pointing a black semi-automatic handgun out of the driver's window at him with a strong stare. Matta said he feared for his life at this time. Matta stated he slowed down to get out of the way of the firearm and ended up behind the suspect vehicle at this time.
At this time both were committed to exit 83 (Ivanhoe Blvd). Matta took pictures of the Jeep as it turned right onto College Park Drive and began to drive reckless. Matta said the Jeep beared Florida tag [REDACTED]. After taking the picture, Matta said he called 911 and gave the vehicle information to dispatch the details of what occurred. He explained he could not be late for work and asked an officer to meet him at his work [REDACTED].
I created a photo line-up using ELVIS (a database used by law enforcement for investigative purposes). Elvis selected five random photos based on the suspect's Florida driver's license picture Page 1 of 2 and put them in a randomized order with the suspect being the sixth picture. Officer Blinn #34211 met with Matta and presented him with the photo lineup instructions and the photo lineup. Matta quickly selected the correct picture, photo #2, of the suspect, later identified as, Daniel M. Wheeler, W/M D.O.B 5/17/1987 with 100% certainty. (See Officer Blinn's supplement for more details.) Based on Mattas sworn statement and the positive photo lineup identification, probable cause exist to charge Wheeler with, aggravated assault with a firearm violation of F.S.S. 784.021(1)(A)-1."
Note: PWInsider.com has chosen to redact several personal addresses as well as Wheeler's license plate number.
To date, Wheeler has never publicly cmmented on the situation.
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