{news} Krayeske Pleads Not Guilty; Witness Surfaces

[clifford thornton]

      http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-krayeskeplea-0130,0,2560557.story<http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-krayeskeplea-0130,0,2560557.story>?



      CONNECTICUT NEWS 

Krayeske Pleads Not Guilty; Witness Surfaces
12:02 PM EST, January 30, 2007 
By JON LENDER, Courant Staff Writer 

      Political activist and freelance journalist Kenneth Krayeske entered a not-guilty plea, requested a jury trial and saw his case continued until March 2 in Hartford Superior Court Tuesday -- as a new witness surfaced to dispute the Hartford police account of events that led to his controversial Jan. 3 arrest after he took pictures at Gov. M. Jodi Rell's inauguration parade to post on his commentary website.

      "This man did not rush into the parade at Rell as the Hartford police have said," witness Marge Nichols of Lebanon said in a written statement that was handed to reporters at the courthouse by Krayeske's lawyer, Norman Pattis, before his client's appearance on charges of breach of peace and interfering with police.

                 
                 
           

                 
                 
           
      Pattis requested, and was granted, a pre-trial conference with a prosecutor supervised by a judge March 2 to discuss possible resolutions of the case. The defense lawyer told reporters the prosecution was less than cooperative. He said a prosecutor did not even want to read Nichols' statement during a short conference behind closed doors Tuesday morning.

      An hour or so later, Krayeske appeared briefly in open court before Superior Court Judge David P. Gold -- and Pattis said his client "appears to be being treated differently than any other protest case that I've had." Gold said he would grant Pattis' request for the supervised, pre-trial conference March 2 without making any judgment on the lawyer's comments. Pattis said he wanted a judge's supervision March 2 when he talks again with a prosecutor because "I don't want to get jerked around any more than I have to."

      Tuesday's court appearance came after Krayeske and about 25 supporters began their morning by demonstrating for about 45 minutes in front of the nearby State Supreme Court building -- with seven of them holding signs that added up to this declaration: "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." Then they trooped a few hundred yards down to the Lafayette Street criminal courthouse for his appearance.

      Nichols took Tuesday off from her job at a Hartford insurance company to observe the proceedings at the courthouse. In her written statement, Nichols said that she and her sister-in-law were "standing right next to Ken Krayeske . on a small traffic island" on the parade route and saw him "standing there quietly takinig photos of the parade."

      As Rell was passing by, "she turned toward us, smiled, waved, and continued to our left. But at the same moment, this young man [Krayeske], still next to me on my right, was pulled behind us into a parking lot, searched, handcuffed and led away. My sister-in-law and I were very surprised and couldn't figure out what he'd done. We had certainly not felt threatened by this photographer nor in any danger. I remember being impressed by how calmly he stood as he and his camera bag were being searched. He did not resist."

      She said that "at the time he was arrested, he was not doing anything illegal, unless there is a law that prohibits photographing parades." In a brief interview, Nichols described herself as an average independent voter, not a political activist, and she said she doesn't "know much about the Green Party," for which Krayeske served as gubernatorial campaign manager last year.

      Krayeske's Green Party activity was listed on a two-page state police security flier that was prepared on him and handed out to officers who would be patrolling the parade route Jan. 3. The flier also included two color drivers license photos of Krayeske from state files, and its second page mentioned Krayeske's 2004 anti-war protest and his invitation on an Internet blog for others to join him in protesting outside Rell's inaugural ball.

      A key legislative leader, Judiciary Committee co-chairman Michael Lawlor, said last week that the flier made Krayeske look like "public enemy number one" and led to an overreaction by Hartford police -- who arrested him about 1:20 p.m. and held him on $75,000 bond for 12 hours, until it was too late for Krayeske to appear outside Rell's ball.

      State Public Safety Commissioner Leonard Boyle Monday wrote a report defending state police security preparations that included Krayeske among about 10 other individuals -- the rest of whom have not been identified -- "who, because of prior actions or statements, warranted interest if they appeared at the day's events." Boyle said the decision to arrest Krayeske Jan. 3 was completely the responsibility of the Hartford police.

      Last week, Hartford police Chief Daryl K. Roberts said Krayeske was arrested not because of the flier, but because he "breached the parade route" -- a charge that Krayeske and at least one other witness already had denied before Nichols surfaced Tuesday with her account. 




     




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