Congratulations.
Miriam
_____
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of joe harcz Comcast
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2016 1:03 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] charge dismissed against blind protester at
capitol
Charge dismissed against blind protester at Michigan Capitol
Paul Egan,
Detroit Free Press 10:38 a.m. EDT August 22, 2016
636073878677336936-joe-harcz-and-attorney.jpgBuy Photo
Joe Harcz (left) and his attorney Brian Kamar, during an earlier hearing at
Lansing district court.(Photo: Paul Egan/Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo
MASON -- Minutes before a trial was scheduled to begin, Ingham County
prosecutors today dismissed a charge against a blind activist who was
arrested while
demonstrating outside the state Capitol in Lansing last year.
Paul Joseph (Joe) Harcz, 63, of Mt. Morris was charged with resisting and
obstructing police, a two-year felony.
Harcz was arrested on Sept. 17 when he tried to cross a police barricade to
enter a 25th anniversary celebration of the federal Americans With
Disabilities
Act, taking place on the Capitol lawn, after police identified him as a
protester they believed was intent on disrupting the event.
"In the interests of justice, the people are moving to have this case
dismissed," assistant Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Stevens told Ingham
Circuit Court
Judge William Collette on Monday morning, minutes before the bench trial was
scheduled to begin.
Stevens didn't elaborate, but Interim Ingham County Prosecutor Gretchen
Whitmer, who was appointed to the post after Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings was
charged
with prostitution-related charges, said she made the call after reviewing
the file, viewing a videotape of the incident, and discussing the case with
Stevens.
"While we all have an interest in ensuring protests at the Capitol remain
safe, we must also observe an individual's fundamental right to protest,"
Whitmer
said in an e-mail to the Free Press.
Stevens asked for the dismissal after a blind witness for Harcz asked
prosecutors to move the case to Lansing, because of difficulties accessing
the Mason
courthouse through public transit and ADA issues at the historic courthouse.
Stevens told Collette the courtroom is ADA-compliant and the courthouse has
Braille markings in the elevator, but still requested the dismissal.
Harcz was
protesting the fact organizers chose the Capitol
as the site for the event, when the historic building lacked Braille signage
and other features to make it fully ADA-compliant. He was also protesting
the
fact that some of the organizers of the event, as permitted by federal law,
paid sub-minimum wages to some disabled workers.
Source:
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/08/22/trial-begins-blind
-protester-arrested-capitol/89078270/
