Napa County DA declines to file criminal charges against Nikki Garcia’s husband Artem Chigvintsev

The Napa County District Attorney’s Office issued a press release declining to file criminal charges against Artem Chigvintsev in connection with his arrest on suspicion of felony domestic violence against his wife and WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Garcia.

“While we take every arrest seriously and stand firmly against domestic violence, we have an ethical obligation to only file charges when supported by the evidence,” Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley said. “We are required to prove any and every criminal charge ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ which is the highest standard in the American criminal justice system. If the available evidence doesn’t rise to this level of proof, then we cannot ethically file charges.”

The press release stated that the decision was only taken after a thorough review of the criminal investigation and careful evaluation of the evidence presented to the DA’s Office.

The Napa County District Attorney’s Office does not typically issue press releases when it declines to file charges against any given individual but did so for this case due to the intense media interest it has received since Chigvintsev’s arrest.

Nikki Garcia has since filed for divorce.