[nfbmi-talk] Fw: charges dismissed against blind protester

[David Robinson]

Good news for all blind persons. Joe fought and won as we all should.     
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From: joe harcz Comcast 
To: terry Eagle 
Cc: Mark Eagle ; Eleanor Canter ; David Robinson NFB MI ; Mary Ann Robinson NFB MI ; Joe Sontag NFB MI ; Laura Hall ADAPT MDRC ; terri Sullivan 71 ; Mark Whalen ; Phil White ; Clark Goodrich MIADAPT ; Michael Steinberg ACLU ; jfroyal2000 . ; Larry Wanger ; Fran Fulton ; Bill Earl MI ADAPT ; Leigh Campbell-Earl ; Jill Gerrie MI ARC ; Norm DeLisle MDRC ; Theresa Squires MDRC ; Joseph Pietron MDRC ; Mark Johnson ; Kelly Buckland NCIL ; Marsha Katz ; Mark Finnegan ; Denise Heberle ; Sidhu,Mehgan ; Mark A. Riccobono NFB Pres. ; Mark Kamar, Esq. ; Samuel Bagenstos ; Georgia Kitchen FANFB 
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2016 12:59 PM
Subject: charges dismissed against blind protester


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/