{news} Charges DISMISSED against Krayeske(Thornton campaign manager)

[Green Party-CT]

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  http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-krayeske-0321,0,7605517.story?coll=hc-headlines-home         

Charges Dismissed Against Krayeske 



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       -->By JON LENDER
Courant Staff Writer

March 21 2007, 11:59 AM EDT

Kenneth Krayeske, the political activist and blogger whose Jan. 3 arrest while taking pictures of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's inauguration parade raised concerns over civil rights issues and the actions of police, won dismissal Wednesday of the charges against him in Hartford Superior Court.

Prosecutors at first offered only to nolle the charges of breach of peace and interfering with police -- that is, to not prosecute them but reserve the right to reopen the case for about a year -- on the grounds that Hartford police were in a "no-win" situation because they would have been strongly criticized if something happened to Rell.

But Krayeske's lawyer, Norman Pattis, pushed for an outright dismissal, saying it was Krayeske who was in the "no-win" situation because he was a nonviolent citizen exercising his First Amendment right by taking pictures of Rell for his website, www.the40yearplan.com.

Pattis added that Krayeske should not have been identified as a threat to Rell, as he was by the state police, in a two-page security flier they prepared for police on parade patrol. The flier included information about Krayeske's past public criticism of the governor and two color driver's-license photos of him from motor vehicles department records.

Prosecutors then agreed to the dismissal, which did not involve any waiving by Krayeske of his right to bring a wrongful arrest suit in federal court. He said afterward he had not made a decision about legal action, and for now wanted merely to focus on his studies as a law student.

"I feel like a million pounds are off my shoulders," he said. "I'm just really happy to have my life back. I'm happy not to have this pockmark on my reputation anymore, and not to have to be the guy who got arrrested taking pictures of the governor; I'm just so pleased that that's not me anymore."   Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant
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