MIAMI (AP) -- A domestic battery charge against former Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez was dropped when his accuser failed to show up in court to testify.
Prosecutors said Monday they had to dismiss the case when Alvarez's former girlfriend did not appear for trial. The former girlfriend is facing her own charges of breaking into Alvarez's condominium in Coral Cables.
The Miami Herald reports Alvarez was accused in April of grabbing his ex-girlfriend, pinning her against a wall and spitting at her in an argument over a cat.
Alvarez, also Miami-Dade's former police director, was elected mayor in 2006 and re-elected. He was booted from office by voters in a 2011 recall election over his support for taxpayer funding of baseball's Marlins Park, a property tax increase and other issues.
