[lavender] FW: [ActionGreens] FW: Charges reinstated against New Paltz mayor who married gays

[Owen Broadhurst]

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Mark Rausher/Present-Day Products" <presentdayprods at mindspring.com>
Subject: [ActionGreens] FW: Charges reinstated against New Paltz mayor who 
married gays
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 02:22:09 -0500


Charges reinstated against mayor who married gays
Feb 2, 2005

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. from Newsday.com

February 2, 2005, 4:19 PM EST

ALBANY -- Criminal charges against New Paltz Village Mayor Jason West for
marrying gay couples were reinstated Wednesday by a judge who said public
officials cannot pick and choose which laws to obey.

Twenty-four misdemeanor counts were filed against West after he married a
series of gay couples last Feb. 27 in the Hudson Valley college town of New
Paltz. But the charges were dismissed last summer by a town court judge who
said there were constitutional problems in banning same-sex marriages.

Ruling on an appeal from prosecutors, Ulster County Court Judge J. Michael
Bruhn said the criminal case against West was not about the
constitutionality of gay marriage, but whether West lived up to his oath of
office to uphold the law. Bruhn wrote in his decision that under the town
court's logic, a mayor may "ignore and flout" a law he believes is unjust or
unconstitutional.

The case will now go to trial in town court, barring a successful appeal by
West's lawyers. West faces fines and up to a year in jail if convicted on
the misdemeanor counts of solemnizing marriages for couples without a
license.

New York state officials, including Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Gov.
George Pataki, have said same-sex ceremonies violate state law.

West has maintained he was upholding the gay couples' constitutional rights
to equal protection -- and thus his oath of office -- by allowing them to
wed.

"If I told those the gay couples ... 'No, I can't marry you because you're
gay,' I'd be violating the state constitution and I'd be violating my oath
of office," West said.

His lawyer, Joshua Rosenkranz, said no decision had been made yet on whether
to seek an appeal, but "I know that Jason West is chomping at the bit to
face a jury of his peers."

There was no immediate comment from prosecutors.

West was hit with criminal charges shortly after marrying off about
two-dozen gay couples before a cheering crowd and dozens of reporters. He
became the second public official in the nation to join same-sex couples,
following San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, helping ignite the debate over
gay marriage.

The criminal charges against West were part of a series of legal actions
filed since the gay marriage issue flared up a year ago. Two Unitarian
ministers who wed gay couples in New Paltz had similar charges dismissed.
West is barred from performing more gay weddings under a civil suit, which
he is appealing.

There are also a series of civil lawsuits filed on behalf of gay couples
seeking the legal right to wed. Two trial courts considering separate
lawsuits ruled against gay couples who were denied marriage licenses.

Those cases are expected to ultimately be settled on appeal.





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