Just returned from Amy Castor's hearing. The judge had 64 cases to hear this morning. Amy's was one of the last ones since there was testimony to be heard.
Here it is in a nutshell. The harassment case was thrown out. Mt. Lebanon had no testimony. It was all hearsay. Hunter Aaron Gander was not there. The Game Commission didn't see anything. The police didn't see anything. They had no testimony.
Trespassing - the judge said that this is a tempest in a teapot. He found Amy guilty of trespassing and fined her ONE DOLLAR. In other words it was such a small thing, but Mt. Lebanon made such a big deal about it. Greg and Emily Perri testified. The game commission testified. One of three police officers testified. The judge said that the only testimony that he could go on was from the Perri's, since the police and the game commission officer had nothing.
Update March 1, 2016 1:08 PM Fines reduced from $1100 to $1 for Mt. Lebanon deer trespasser
12 comments:
Mt. Lebanon cited Amy Castor's charge of harassment in MY case. Judge Nauhaus dismissed the harassment charge this morning.
Elaine
Amy should not have been found guilty on the defiant trespass charge. Even Blaise said that Amy had no intent to trespass.
wonderful news.. I wish I could of been there to support her..i was there when she took a verbal beating from our magistrate..after listening to Blaise pick on this woman and her attorney,, I was shaken for the rest of the day.. what horrible strong arm tactics he pulled...and to know that there other major problems that are brewing in his district and he harasses a woman who was concerned about animals being killed in her aunt's backyard... sounds like he was defending the influential Perri family...
Kudos to all who keep fighting the madness in MTL.
This is evidence, as with Elaine's case, that the further the decision-making body is away from MTL, the more likely clearly thinking will prevail.
I agree Jason,, unf the current crop of commissioners in Lebo is as good as it gets.. very very sad for this community which in the past had both good government and a good the education system...
I was part of the group of SIX of us from Mt. Lebanon there to support Amy. Make that SEVEN, although we're not sure where the family lives that she spent the week end with. The Perris corroborated one another's testimony (Amy had no such corroboration) AND they were far more comfortable testifying than she was. When the Judge boiled the decision-making down to one thing--credibility--the forcefulness of the Perris had paid off. However, clearly the Judge thought this was a lot of excitement about nothing ("tempest in a teapot"), and I think his decision serves as: a smack-down on Blaise for his heavy handed response to the charges; a notice to Mt. Lebanon that this was an extreme over-reaction (and over-reaching) on their parts; and to the police that the rules of evidence still actually matter--outside the bubble. Their chances of using Amy as their "whipping boy" to keep the rest of us in line just went up in smoke!
Wow! Maybe Mt. Lebanon DOESN'T control the universe, after all!!!
(I would LOVE to have eavesdropped to hear the explanation given by THREE of Mt. Lebanon's Finest as to: WHY it was necessary for more than one of them to attend, particularly since they had NO DIRECT KNOWLEDGE; and what-the-heck went so badly wrong, especially since Blaise thought they had such a strong case!) Hmmmm...
I would think, Barbara, that the Mt. Lebo cops were high giving each other all afternoon for their victory earlier in the morning. Personally, I thought the Perris' testimony was weak. Amy was not adequately prepared. It was clear that the judge wanted to find her not guilty. Her lawyer sucked.
Congrats to Amy Castor and her legal team for putting up a good fight and coming away with a huge victory. Close to $1400 in fines reduced to $1 is amazing.
Nick M.
The only reason the hunter harassment charge was thrown out by the judge is because the archer didn't show up to testify. Amy didn't win that one. They lost that one.
1:23, Amy did win that one. It's how our system works. If the plaintiff doesn't show up for one reason or another, the charges are to be dismissed. What part of that don't you understand?
Believe me, 1:23, I understand more than you can even imagine.
Glad of the outcome for her.
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