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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Trial for Flint man arrested at city public hearing is continued to October
Published: Friday, September 14, 2012, 5:00 PM
By Dominic Adams | dadams5@mlive.com
Dominic Adams | Mlive.comAssistant City Attorney Angela Watkins talks in court Friday as Eric Mays listens. Mays jury trial was continued to October. He is defending himself.
FLINT, MI -- A judge continued the jury trial Friday of a Flint man who was arrested at a public hearing at Flint City Hall this summer.
Eric Mays was escorted out of the building in July after an assistant city attorney asked him to sit down when he went over a three-minute per-person time limit at the podium in the Flint City Council Chambers.
Mays was acting as his own attorney before Flint District Judge Nathaniel C. Perry III on Friday on the misdemeanor charge of disrupting a meeting of a public body.
Both sides were in court for about about an hour. Perry was listening to why Mays wanted to use various executive orders by former emergency financial manager Michael Brown, but Assistant City Attorney Angela Watkins argued they were irrelevant to his being disorderly at the meeting.
Perry told Mays that although he may not know everything an attorney might, the judge would still hold Mays to the same standard.
At one point, Perry told Mays that he needed to stay in front of the podium and didn't need to keep wandering over by Watkins.
Perry asked why Mays wouldn't accept a deal the city offered. Watkins said if Mays pleaded no contest, the city would ask sentencing to be delayed for a year and if Mays complied with the rules governing city council meetings during that time, the charges would be dropped.
"What I'm trying to tell you is that you can walk out of here. What you're telling me is you want to roll the dice," Perry said. "I'm not going to turn this into a mechanism where the law does not apply. However, I am trying to get you to understand what's going on here. You're being held to the same standard as a lawyer."
Mays also subpoenaed Brown, City Clerk Inez Brown and City Attorney Peter Bade.
Parks excused Inez Brown because she was attending a funeral, but Mike Brown and Peter Bade were not
.
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I believe that (Mike Brown and Peter Bade) knew before we got there that there wasn't going to a be a trial," Mays said. "We were ready to go. This would have been the first time Mike Brown would have been questioned under oath on his dealings and I believe that has a lot to do with this. I think everyone should come to court and we should do it openly."
The trial was continued to 8:30 a.m. Oct. 1, Perry said, so Mays can have more time to prepare.
A jury had been seated, but had not been sworn in and Perry said a new jury will be selected for the October trial.
- Dominic Adams is a police reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook. |
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Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:59 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Mays also subpoenaed Brown, City Clerk Inez Brown and City Attorney Peter Bade.
Parks excused Inez Brown because she was attending a funeral, but Mike Brown and Peter Bade were not .
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I think the Journal meant Perry. But why weren't Mike brown and Peter Bade cited for not honoring the supoena. Perry should hold everyone to the same standards.
Charter states 10 minutes, council rules say 5 minutes and brown made them 3 minutes.
With Council back, Mays should have had at least the five. I understand there was no executive order limiting the time to 3 minutes. |
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Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:04 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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An ordinance to amend Chapter 31,
General Offenses, Article I, In General, of the
Code of the City of Flint by amending Section
31-12, Disorderly Conduct and Disorderly
Persons.
0
IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED
PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF FLINT:
BY THE’
Sec. 1. That the provisions of Chapter 31,
General Offenses, Article I, In General, § 31-
21, Disorderly Conduct and Disorderly
Persons, shall be amended to add language and
correct numbering/lettering, and shall read in
its entirety as follows:
§ 31-12 DISORDERLY CON])UCT AND
DISORDERLY PERSONS.
Ea) A person is a disorderly person if the
person does any of the following:
(1~(a) a~(1) Commits an assault or battery
upon any person.
b(2) Commits an assault or an
assault and battery upon a spouse, former
spouse, or a person residing or having
resided in the same household as the
perpetrator. This subsection shall be
enforced in accordance with MCL §~
750.81, 764.15a and 769.4a.
f2)(b) Engages in any fight in a public
place except when doing so solely in self-defense.
E3Xc) Remains in any public place after its
regular closing hours after being told to leave by
one authorized to give such order.
E4Xd) Conducts himself in any public
place, or joins with one or more persons in a
public place, if he knows or should know that,
singly or together with others with whom he has
joined, he is unreasonably obstructing the free and
uninterrupted passage of the public along any
street or sidewalk, provided that this paragraph
~-JSUBSECTION is not to be interpreted to conflict
with the regulations of the National Labor
Relations Board regarding picketing in labor
disputes.
f5)(e) Persists in disturbing the public
peace and quiet by loud or aggressive conduct,
having once been clearly informed by persons
affected that he is in fact unreasonably causing
such a disturbance, provided, however, that notice
need not be given when such persons affected
reasonably believe that to do so would constitute a
risk to their personal safety.
f6)(f)~ Persists in disturbing the peace and
orderly conduct of any meeting of a public body
or any meeting open ‘to the general public by any
conduct or communication which by its very
existence inflicts injury or tends to incite an
immediate breach of peace or which prevents the
peaceful and orderly conduct of such meeting after
having been clearly informed that he is in fact
unreasonably causing such disturbance.
9)(g) Knowingly transportS any person,
for consideration, or the offer of consideration, to
a place where the business of prostitution,
gambling, or illegal sale of liquor or a controlled
substance is carried on, for the purpose of
enabling such person to be a customer of any such
business
.
f (h) Knowingly harasses any other
person OR KNOWINGLY PERSISTS IN
HARASSING A PERSON IN THE PUBLIC
AFTER BEING TOLD TO STOP. HARASS is
defined as any repeated nonverbal conduct which
is specifically intended to frighten, embarrass, or
anger the person who is or persons who are the
object of such conduct, or which the person
accused has reason to know is likely to produce
such reactions or any repeated verbal
communication which by its very utterance inflicts
injury or incites an immediate breach of peace.
f9)(i) Urinates or defecates on any public
street or sidewalk, or on the floor of that part of
any building open to the public or any other place
in view of the public not specifically designated
for that purpose.
~4-O)(j) Throws any object from any
moving vehicle, or toward any person or moving
vehicle if he knows or should now that damage to
person or property, or alarm which may |
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Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:42 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Flint resident Eric Mays will act as his own lawyer in February trial
By Dominic Adams | dadams5@mlive.com
on January 09, 2013 at 6:30 PM
Eric Mays and Flint assistant city attorney Angela Watkins discuss exhibits in this September file photo. Mays will act as his own lawyer in a February trial on a misdemeanor charge of disrupting a public meeting after he was arrested at a public hearing in July. Dominic Adams | Mlive.com
FLINT, MI -- A Flint man accused of being disorderly at a public hearing after he was arrested inside Flint City Hall will go to trial in February.
Genesee District Judge Mark McCabe ruled Wednesday, Jan. 9, that Mays could not use Flint City Council rules and orders from the city's emergency financial manager in his defense.
Mays is acting as his own attorney on a misdemeanor charge of disrupting a meeting of a public body, which is punishable by up to $500 in fines or 90 days in the Genesee County Jail.
"It does not appear that the rules Mr. Mays wants to admit as evidence apply," McCabe said.
McCabe heard arguments from Mays and Assistant City Attorney Angela Watkins during the hour-long hearing about what information McCabe would allow the attorney's to present during trial.
Mays previously subpoenaed former emergency financial manager Michael Brown, City Clerk Inez Brown and City Attorney Peter Bade.
"I think that was kind of like a split decision," Mays said of McCabe's ruling Wednesday. "Now I have to rethink my strategy."
Mays said he still plans to defend himself.
In September, Mays turned down a plea bargain from Watkins that asked Mays to plead no contest. The city would request that sentencing be delayed for a year, and if Mays complied with the rules governing city council meetings during that time, the charges would be dropped.
A jury had been seated at that September hearing before Flint District Judge Nathaniel C. Perry III, but Perry eventually postponed the hearing and then recused himself.
When no other Flint District Court judge would take the case, it was assigned to McCabe.
Dominic Adams is a police reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter |
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Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:45 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Jury verdict: Flint man guilty of disrupting Flint City Council hearing
By Chris Aldridge | caldridg@mlive.com
on February 22, 2013 at 7:15 PM
Eric Mays and Flint assistant city attorney Angela Watkins discus exhibits in the September 2012 file photo. Dominic Adams | MLive.com
FLINT, MI – A Genesee County District Court jury Friday declared Eric Mays guilty of disrupting a meeting of a public body, a misdemeanor, at a July 2, 2012, Flint City Council public hearing.
The verdict on Feb. 22 came after a trial before Genesee District Judge Mark C. McCabe.
Mays was arrested and given a court-appearance ticket when he allegedly spoke too long at a public hearing in July.
Mays, who acted as his own attorney during the trial, was found guilty by the jury in a unanimous decision. His sentencing is scheduled for March 13 at 1 p.m.
The charge against him came after Mays was handcuffed and escorted out of a public hearing at Flint City Hall for refusing to adhere to a three-minute time limit while speaking out against proposed tax abatements for downtown Flint properties.
The case was set for trial in September and a jury had been seated, but Flint District Judge Nathaniel C. Perry III eventually postponed the trial.
When no other Flint District Court judge would take the case, it was assigned to McCabe.
McCabe heard arguments from Mays and Assistant City Attorney Angela Watkins during the trial.
Multiple public officials were subpoenaed to appear at the trial. Among those who testified were Mayor Dayne Walling, Flint City Clerk Inez Brown, President of Flint Area Chamber of Commerce Mike Killbreath, Flint City Council President Scott Kincaid and the police officer who made Mays’ arrest, Thomas Snyder.
For the most part, the witnesses testified about city council meeting rules and procedures.
Mays labeled the hearing as a “fight for a 10-minute right.”
“I’m 54, I’m not looking for publicity,” Mays said. “I want a dignified reputation.”
Mays cited rule 27.5 of Flint City Council’s “Rules Governing Meetings of the Council,” which reads, “Members of the public shall have no more than 10 minutes to address the city council during a public hearing.”
Mays also testified, saying the city council public speaking rules were confusing.
“The whole controversy is about three minutes,” Mays said. “If I did anything wrong, it would be with the police, but the police didn’t testify.”
Mays said he thinks the police officer during the July 2, 2012, public hearing didn’t know the “internal rules” governing Flint City Council meetings.
“It isn’t about a four-, five- or six-minute mark; this is about behavior at a meeting and disruption of a meeting,” Watkins said.
Watkins said Mays had disrespected other people at the July 2, 2012, public hearing by disturbing the peace and challenging the moderator of the meeting.
“Free speech is one thing, and chaos is another – that meeting was prevented from being peaceful and orderly,” Watkins said in her closing remarks. “He wouldn’t comply with lawful orders, so he was arrested. There is some level of authority we all must submit to.” |
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Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:04 pm |
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