Sara Ganim – centredaily.com

BELLEFONTE — District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller will not pursue a criminal case against a student photographer charged with ignoring police orders to leave the 2008 State College riot that he was covering for the Daily Collegian newspaper.

In a prepared statement Thursday, Parks Miller said it’s in “the interest of justice” that she not continue the appeal started by her predecessor Michael Madeira.

Madeira had approved charges of inciting the crowd of thousands that gathered in Beaver Canyon after Penn State’s football team beat Ohio State that year. Police also charged photographer Michael Felletter with not leaving when police ordered.

Felletter was on assignment for the Penn State student newspaper. Police said that by taking pictures with large equipment, he was encouraging the crowd to act more rowdy.

The charges were thrown out by a judge, but Madeira appealed the case to the state Superior Court in August. Thursday, Parks Miller sent a letter to the Superior Court saying she will not continue the appeal.

“I’m really proud of him for fighting this fight and for not backing down and for understanding,” said Felletter’s attorney Andrew Shubin. “It shows a level of sophistication for a college student to understand the level of importance for fighting this fight and not giving in. I really do think that Michael understood he was fighting this not just for his own career but for the principles.”
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Shubin, who represented Felletter for free through the ACLU, has been fighting these charges since Felletter’s arrest, saying the arrest and charge are violations of Felletter’s First Amendment rights.

He said he appreciates the “careful and considerate review of the constitutional principles” by Parks Miller, who, in her campaign against Madeira last year, cited this case as one with which Madeira was wasting resources and exercising poor judgment.

The end of this case, Shubin says, “validates the long-standing First Amendment protections afforded by the courts to the media and their vital role in collecting and disseminating news.”

Parks Miller said in her press release that “while the police always have the ability to tell people to disperse in dangerous crowd situations and people should comply with those directives for safety reasons, based upon the specific facts of record in this particular case, we have chosen to discontinue this appeal.”

Read more:

By Greg Galiffa- Collegian Staff Writer

Penn State student and Daily Collegian photographer Michael Felletter finally got the news he has been waiting a year and a half to hear — charges filed against him stemming from the 2008 riot were dismissed.

In a March 11 press release, Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller announced she filed a motion to drop an appeal for the case, ending a protracted legal battle against Felletter.

“For almost two years now, I’ve been put through this judicial system, and now it is finally done,” Felletter (senior-visual journalism) wrote in an e-mail. “I feel closure.” (more…)

2008 STATE COLLEGE RIOT
Parks Miller dropping case of photographer
Sara Ganim

BELLEFONTE — District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller will not pursue a criminal case against a student photographer charged with ignoring police orders to leave the 2008 State College riot that he was covering for the Daily Collegian newspaper.

In a prepared statement Thursday, Parks Miller said it’s in “the interest of justice” that she not continue the appeal started by her predecessor Michael Madeira.

Madeira had approved charges of inciting the crowd of thousands that gathered in Beaver Canyon after Penn State’s football team beat Ohio State that year. Police also charged photographer Michael Felletter with not leaving when police ordered.

Felletter was on assignment for the Penn State student newspaper. Police said that by taking pictures with large equipment, he was encouraging the crowd to act more rowdy.

The charges were thrown out by a judge, but Madeira appealed the case to the state Superior Court in August. Thursday, Parks Miller sent a letter to the Superior Court saying she will not continue the appeal.

“I’m really proud of him for fighting this fight and for not backing down and for understanding,” said Felletter’s attorney Andrew Shubin. “It shows a level of sophistication for a college student to understand the level of importance for fighting this fight and not giving in. I really do think that Michael understood he was fighting this not just for his own career but for the principles.”
(more…)

On Oct. 25 last year, thousands of students rushed into Beaver Canyon to celebrate Penn State’s victory over rival Ohio State.

We didn’t know it, but the First Amendment was on the line.

(more…)

July 27, 2009

PENNSYLVANIA — A photographer at Pennsylvania State University’s Daily Collegian was cleared of his remaining failure to disperse charge July 22 in a pre-trial motion after he was arrested last fall while covering a post-football-game riot.

(more…)

Sara Ganim – sganim@centredaily.com
Thursday, Jul. 23, 2009
A Daily Collegian photographer charged with inciting revelers during the October downtown State College riot has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a judge.

Michael Felletter had fought the two misdemeanor charges — filed by police who said his pictures were making the crowd act more rowdy and that he did not leave the scene when police ordered — on First Amendment grounds.

“In the U.S., we don’t arrest the press for covering major events and protests,” said Felletter’s attorney, Andy Shubin, who called the case “doomed from the beginning.”

(more…)

In the July 23, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer

BELLEFONTE, Pa. – A judge dismissed the remaining misdemeanor charge against a photographer for the independent campus newspaper at Penn State in connection with an unruly fan celebration in State College.

Prosecutors had dropped five of six misdemeanors against photographer Michael Felletter earlier this year following the Oct. 25 disturbance after the Nittany Lions’ football win at Ohio State.

A sixth count, for failing to disperse, was dismissed Wednesday by a Centre County judge.

Felletter’s lawyer (Andrew Shubin, from State College, PA) said the student was just doing his job as a member of the press.

Authorities had initially charged about 20 people in connection with the disturbance, and several were charged with felony riot.

Inmate’s wife claims authorities failed to follow procedure
and monitor husband
By Phil Ray
JOHNSTOWN — The wife of a man who committed suicide while incarcerated at Blair County Prison has filed a federal lawsuit contending that jail authorities violated procedures by not placing him on suicide watch. Jeremy Shane Corbin, 32, of Bellwood used a bedsheet to hang himself in his cell in October.

At the time, the jail contained 313 inmates, and some were housed in the gymnasium.  Corbin was in jail on an allegation that he violated a protection-fromabuse order issued Oct. 9.  County officials said Corbin was upset because he couldn’t see his children because of the PFA order.  According to the lawsuit, Corbin told sheriff’s deputies transporting him to a hearing that he was suicidal, the lawsuit stated.

(more…)

By Alyssa Owens

Although an extensive debate between Penn State Judicial Affairs and Olivia Guevara ended last week, the motives behind her prosecution are still being questioned.

Over the past five months, Guevara, a graduate student in the department of labor, has repeatedly challenged Penn State’s decision to prosecute her for vandalism and accused the university of singling her out to squelch her anti-sweatshop activism.

The battle has grown to involve 48 professors, labor departments from other universities, labor unions, concerned students from across the country and a local attorney who said Guevara’s First Amendment rights were at risk.

The charges stem from an incident on Sept. 27, when Guevara and several other activists chalked anti-sweatshop messages on several university buildings, including Old Main. Criminal charges against Guevara were dismissed because of a lack of evidence. However, Judicial Affairs asked for damage fees and issued a seven-year citation on her academic record.

Penn State officials have maintained that Guevara’s Judicial Affairs hearing was fair and that her prosecution was solely a matter of vandalism.

(more…)

By Kristen Huth

Collegian Staff Writer

Last night, a national organization aiming to reform marijuana laws hosted its first Rally in the Valley discussion in 101 Thomas to raise awareness about legal concerns involving marijuana.

“We want to inform people about this issue and have some positive conversations about the marijuana issue,” Jason Bundy, co-president of the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said.

Bundy told about 30 people that NORML is a resource for those who need legal advice, as well as an organization that promotes legislation to reform marijuana laws.

Andrew Shubin, a criminal defense attorney, was present to give legal advice concerning marijuana laws.

Shubin explained that a school zone has much harsher consequences for felonies than any other area.

“If you are within 1,000 feet of any part of Penn State University, whether it’s the 18th hole of the golf course, a garage that Penn State owns, the high school or a playground, that’s a school zone,” he said. “That’s basically all of State College.”

The mandatory minimum sentence for possession of marijuana is two to four years in a school zone, compared to probation to one month anywhere else, Shubin said.

“That’s the difference one foot can make,” he said.

Shubin gave advice on what to do if confronted by a police officer.

“Be courteous. … The first thing you should do is assert your right to counsel,” he said. “And without your consent, an officer needs a warrant to search your house.”

A big topic of the discussion was the use of student informants in drug busts.

Sam Richards, senior lecturer in sociology, said that a petition opposing the use of student informants in drug busts

was circulated among faculty members in the early ’90s, and only about 5 percent of the faculty did not sign it.

“It’s just not the kind of campus you want to create,” he said.

Shubin said the biggest problem at Penn State is not marijuana, but rather alcohol abuse and its “collateral crimes,” such as domestic abuse and drunk driving.

Nick Drewchin (freshman-economics) said that “everyone from Graham Spanier to the middle school kids at Mount Nittany … knows that kids in the frats get wasted, and then sexual assault happens.”

Richards said one of the concerns with the legality of marijuana is that there is not a national discussion about it.

“If I asked you how much marijuana is takes to get high, no one would know,” he said. “But we could all probably agree on how many drinks it takes to get drunk.”

Bundy said the idea that no amount of marijuana is lethal could be dangerous without any guidance.

“If you know no amount is toxic, how do you set your limits?” he said.

Bundy said that marijuana laws are based on “the worst of us, not the most of us.”

“There is a difference between use and abuse,” he said, adding that the group does not promote abuse.