GREENFIELD — The state opted Monday to drop its case against a Level 3 sex offender and former fugitive to spare the named victim the trauma of taking the witness stand in a trial.

Jeffrey Cancel-Muniz, 42, formerly of western Massachusetts, has been released on the condition that he follows the protective order filed by the victim. He must remain 100 yards away from the victim, a woman known to him, and have no contact with her.

Cancel-Muniz faced charges of strangulation or suffocation, kidnapping, rape and aggravated rape in Franklin County Superior Court as a result of a sexual assault that allegedly occurred in Deerfield in May 2020. He was apprehended in Kissimmee, Florida, in April 2021, a month after he was added to the Massachusetts State Police’s list of most-wanted fugitives.

Cancel-Muniz was arrested after a hotel clerk had a dispute with him, searched his name online and saw his face on a poster the State Police’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section had released to news media outlets. Deputies with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Travelodge Suites by Wyndham Kissimmee Orange after the hotel notified them that Cancel-Muniz was a guest there, Massachusetts State Police spokesperson David Procopio said at the time. Deputies verified the warrants against Cancel-Muniz and arrested him as a fugitive from justice.

Elizabeth Halloran, a private attorney who accepts court appointments, was in court Monday as at least the sixth lawyer to represent Cancel-Muniz, who frequently grew frustrated with his legal counsel. In early August, he said following a motion hearing that he no longer wanted to be represented by defense attorney Thomas Glynn.

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