BOSTON — City Hall decided the ending almost a year ago. This week, the court finally read the script.

A judge has dismissed the criminal case against former Boston City Hall staffer Chulan Huang, closing a prosecution that outlasted his job — but not the rush to fire him under the Wu administration.

Huang was arrested in May 2025 following a domestic incident involving his then-girlfriend Marwa Khudaynazar, who was also employed by the city. He pleaded not guilty. While the case moved slowly through the courts, City Hall acted quickly, terminating Huang based on the arrest itself.

The court, it turns out, was in less of a hurry.

With the dismissal, the criminal case ends without a conviction — months after Huang’s firing had already settled the matter inside City Hall. At the time, the Wu administration pointed to police reports noting that Huang referenced his City Hall employment during the incident, framing that detail as justification for acting swiftly.

The background to the dispute also included an allegation by Khudaynazar that senior City Hall official Segun Idowu had previously made an inappropriate proposition toward her. City Hall said the allegation was reviewed internally and that an investigation quickly cleared Idowu of wrongdoing.

Still, the contrast lingered. Huang, a lower-level staffer, was fired quickly and publicly while his case was unresolved. Senior figures, by comparison, were afforded time, process, and quieter exits.

For the court, the matter is finished. For Huang, the legal record now ends without a conviction. And for City Hall, the episode leaves a familiar lesson: when politics sprint ahead of the justice system, the verdict often arrives too late to matter.