Two sought access to slaughtering facility during demonstration two years ago.
By: David Campbell
An appellate court ruling is expected within weeks regarding one of the most conspicuous confrontations stemming from Princeton Township’s deer-culling program.
A lawyer for former Roosevelt Mayor Michael Hamilton and a Hillsborough woman, appearing before a three-judge panel of the Appellate Division on Tuesday, argued the two broke no laws when they sought access to a deer-slaughter facility off River Road during a demonstration there two years ago.
Attorney Bruce Afran argued the township falsely charged the two and violated their rights to freedom of speech.
"It’s the police who broke the law in this case," Mr. Afran said Wednesday. "There was gross deception committed by the township. The reason they were arrested in our understanding was to interfere with their right to protest."
Mr. Hamilton and Carol Knott were arrested during a demonstration outside the Princeton Sewer Operating Committee facility in January 2002. At the demonstration, Mr. Hamilton read a prepared statement calling on township officials to allow independent observers to inspect how the deer had been killed, announced his intention to seek access himself, and then crossed River Road toward the facility’s entrance. Ms. Knott has claimed she crossed the street to inquire why the mayor was being arrested, not to enter the facility.
In May of that year, Princeton Municipal Court Judge Russell W. Annich Jr. ruled that Mr. Hamilton and Ms. Knott trespassed when they defied a police directive not to cross River Road to the SOC property, where the township maintained a butchering and processing facility for its deer cull.
Judge Annich sentenced both defendants to 10 days in jail, which he suspended pending a two-year probation period, and fined each of them $252.
In November 2002, Superior Court Judge Maryann Bielamowicz upheld the Municipal Court judge’s guilty ruling, confirming the lower court’s ruling that they trespassed when they disregarded a police order. The protesters’ attorney appealed to the Superior Court’s Appellate Division.
On Tuesday, Mr. Afran, with Mr. Hamilton and co-counsel Falk Engel present, argued his case before appellate judges James J. Ciancia, Lorraine C. Parker and Rudy B. Coleman.
The former Roosevelt mayor and Ms. Knott did not commit defiant trespass at the SOC site as charged because they were arrested in the street outside the plant, which is a public right-of-way and therefore an appropriate venue for public protest, Mr. Afran said Wednesday following the hearing.
"The public streets are absolute public forums, and police cannot declare the streets off limits for protest," he continued.
According to Mr. Afran, the police report against his clients said they committed defiant trespass, in the words of the complaint, "specifically by walking onto" the SOC property, which the attorney claimed the arresting officer conceded weeks before the Municipal Court hearing technically hadn’t happened.
The township was obligated by law to dismiss the trespass charges as unsupportable but didn’t, Mr. Afran claimed.
"The purpose was to stop this public protest," he said. "They were charged falsely. What happened was a gross violation of due-process rights, and a gross violation of free-speech rights."
Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor John Jingoli, who argued the prosecution’s case Tuesday, was unavailable for comment, as was a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. An attorney for the township declined to comment.
A decision by the appellate panel is expected in three to five weeks, Mr. Afran said.