One week after charges were withdrawn, The Daily Collegian photographer Michael Felletter once again faces the same misdemeanors handed down after he photographed the Oct. 25 riot while on assignment.
Charges of failure to disperse and disorderly conduct were refiled Wednesday against Felletter. The charges had been withdrawn Jan. 21 when the photographer appeared in court for his preliminary hearing -- but the prosecution said the charges would soon be reinstated.
The detective who filed the charges was ill and could not testify last week in court, Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira said last week.
Felletter said he was expecting the charges to be refiled but still hoped the district attorney's office would drop the case.
He hasn't done anything wrong, Felletter said, and he's confident there is plenty of evidence to support him.
"I'd like to get it done and over with now," he said. "Next month when we go, I'm not backing down."
State College attorney Andrew Shubin, who took the case pro bono on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he and his client are preparing to fight the charges at the Feb. 25 preliminary hearing.
In his experience, withdrawing charges just to refile them is "atypical," Shubin said. The prosecution's actions were "tactical so that they could have more time," he said.
"I'm disappointed," Shubin said. "But I'm not surprised."
Terry Casey, editor in chief of the Collegian, has maintained Felletter's case is a First Amendment issue and will continue to support the photographer.
Felletter was not participating in the riot by taking photographs, Casey said -- he was documenting it.
But Madeira, who believes the case does not involve the freedom of the press, said last week the prosecution's opinion of the evidence against the photographer had not wavered.
"[Felletter] was participating in a riot by taking photographs that would excite the crowd and encourage destructive behavior, and refused orders to disperse," according to the criminal complaint.
Never intending to drop the case against Felletter, the District Attorney's office had hoped to postpone the court date last week -- but Magisterial District Judge Carmine Prestia did not accept the request, Madeira said.
Madeira could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
