By Kevin Cirilli  
Collegian Staff Writer

A judge dismissed Wednesday the remaining charge against a Daily Collegian photographer who was arrested while on assignment photographing the Oct. 25 riot following a Penn State football team victory over Ohio State.

Citing “unclear” evidence, Centre County Judge David E. Grine dismissed the failure to disperse charge against the photographer, Michael R. Felletter, according to Grine’s ruling.

“The justice system did its part,” Felletter (senior-visual journalism) said. “Hopefully, journalists will feel freer to go out and gather the news without fearing they’ll be charged for breaking the law.”

Now Centre County officials are reviewing Grine’s ruling to determine whether to appeal or re-file the charges against Felletter, Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira wrote in an e-mail.

Felletter photographed the riot, during which thousands of Penn State students flooded Beaver Canyon. Police initially arrested 14 people in connection with the incident.

Police said Felletter’s photographing caused the crowd to become “more exuberant, excited and destructive,” according to the criminal complaint.
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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.

[Posted by The Associated Press July 20, 2009, 21:12PM]

A sex offender’s bid to overturn the state prison system’s pornography ban was ended Monday by the state Supreme Court, which sided unanimously with the Department of Corrections.

The justices said inmate Shannon R. Brittain, 34, failed to refute the department’s arguments in a meaningful way. They reversed a lower court ruling that had allowed Brittain’s case to continue.

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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.

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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.

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Thomas Bugaj says his seized T-shirt’s message is protected political speech.

By Alison Kepner

and Alissa Wisnouse

Collegian Staff Writers

A Penn State student cited last month for wearing a “Fuck Petrol” T-shirt on College Avenue says State College Police violated his free speech rights.

Police cited Thomas Bugaj, 22, on Sept. 21 for disorderly conduct and confiscated his shirt.

Bugaj (senior-sculpture) wore the homemade shirt during a Critical Mass bike rally in celebration of World Car-Free Day. His blue shirt with black lettering supported international demonstrators, particularly in Great Britain and France, where union members have been protesting high fuel costs, Bugaj said.

Although he has a driver’s license for identification purposes, Bugaj said he bikes everywhere.

“I don’t drive a car,” he said.

The shirt was a protected form of political speech, and some local lawyers and civil rights activists agree with him, Bugaj said.

Several students protested his citation during the First Amendment Festival Tuesday.

Andy Shubin, a local American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, said Bugaj’s shirt — and the obscenity written on it — is protected because it was a political message.

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Centre Daily Times

Byline: Pete Bosak

Aug. 9–BELLEFONTE — The All American Rathskeller is suing its insurance agency and insurance agent over a $2.5 million wrongful death settlement reached with the mother of Peter Serrano, a Penn State student who died during an altercation with night club bouncers in October 2003.

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OPYRIGHT 2007 Financial Times Ltd.

(From University Wire)

Byline: Alyssa Owens

Although an extensive debate between Pennsylvania State University 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.

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Shannon P. Duffy
The Legal Intelligencer
June 2, 2009

In the court battles over prayer in school, the cutting-edge cases are increasingly coming from the kindergarten classrooms.

The latest such case, Busch v. Marple Newtown School District, attracted six friend-of-the-court briefs when it went before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and resulted in a 48-page decision with all three judges on the panel weighing in.

Voting 2-1, the court rejected the claims of the mother of a kindergarten student who said public school officials violated her First Amendment rights when they prohibited her from reading verses from the Bible — which she said was her son Wesley’s favorite book — during a program called “All About Me” week.

Writing for the court, 3rd Circuit Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica said “parents of public school kindergarten students may reasonably expect their children will not become captive audiences to an adult’s reading of religious texts.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2009

HARRISBURG- The Pennsylvania House of Representatives today unanimously passed legislation to conform the search-and-seizure powers of the Pennsylvania Game Commission with the federal and state constitutions, and the bill’s passage won praise from the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

“People do not give up their constitutional rights simply because they hunt and fish,” said Andy Hoover, legislative director of the ACLU of PA. “Outdoorsmen have a right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures.”
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