[Ppnews] Charges withdrawn against 2 who Twittered police location

[Political Prisoner News]

Charges withdrawn against 2 who Twittered police location

Monday, November 02, 2009
By Gabrielle Banks, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Allegheny County District Attorney has dropped all charges 
against two New York men accused of posting locations of police 
officers on Twitter during the G-20 summit.

Elliot M. Madison and Michael T. Wallschlaeger, both of New York 
City, had charges pending before a district judge. Before that case 
came up, their attorney brought a motion to unseal police affidavits 
that backed a search warrant in their case. Today before Allegheny 
County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman the district attorney's 
office withdrew all charges against the men.

"The charges were ill-thought, ill-conceived and they never should 
have been filed to begin with," said Claudia Davidson, who represents both men.

Mike Manko, spokesman for the district attorney, said the office 
decided to withdraw charges after consulting with other law 
enforcement agencies.

He said, "After an extensive review of the facts and circumstances 
underlying those two arrests that took place on Sept. 24, 2009, there 
appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest that certain acts that 
occurred during the G-20 summit were not isolated incidents confined 
to Allegheny County but instead may have been related to more 
expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 in both 
time and substance. That being the case, a determination was made 
that until further investigative activities by law enforcement 
agencies can be completed, it would be more prudent to have the 
current charges withdrawn rather than prosecuted at this time."

According to a criminal complaint filed against Mr. Madison, 
Pennsylvania State Police served a search warrant on Room 238 of the 
Carefree Inn on Kisow Drive in Kennedy early in the afternoon of 
Sept. 24. It was the first day of the G-20 summit and also the day 
set for unsanctioned protests in Lawrenceville.

In the motel room, police discovered Mr. Madison and Michael 
Wallschlaeger sitting in front of personal computers listening to 
both police and EMS scanners.

They were using headphones, microphones and maps to alert protesters 
about the movements of law enforcement, the complaint said. They sent 
the information out via cell phones and Twitter.

The pair also face charges for their G-20 activities in federal court 
in New York after the FBI searched their home in Queens for 16 hours.

The New York Post reported that agents seized "computers, political 
writings, anarchist literature, gas masks and a pound of liquid mercury."

Their defense attorney on the federal case, Martin R. Stolar, 
obtained a temporary restraining order against the FBI in the Eastern 
District of New York.

Ms. Davidson, the Pittsburgh-based attorney, said her "read" on Mr. 
Manko's statement is that "there was another jurisdiction that didn't 
want the DA's office to show their hand here."

"That doesn't mean an investigation elsewhere is going to turn up any 
crimes. We maintain their actions were always lawful. Use of 
electronic equipment to exercise their first amendment rights by 
anyone is not unlawful," she said.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Read more: 
<http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09306/1010252-100.stm#ixzz0VoK7KBI2>http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09306/1010252-100.stm#ixzz0VoK7KBI2




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