Charges Dropped against New York Mayor
Charges Dropped against New York Mayor
July 12, 2005Posted By weddings
More articles on the Weddings topic: Wedding News
The New York Times is reporting that the Ulster Country D.A. has dropped charges against the New York Mayor for marrying same sex couples. He stated that the trial would be needless and divisive.
In a letter to the judge, the DA wrote that the trial would probably "be exploited by those with a greater interest in publicity than the public good." and that the trial would be "filled with rhetoric and hyperbole".
The legal argument over gay weddings was between a public officials duty to uphold existing laws versus the duty to represent the rights of citizens. New York has no specific same sex weddings.
The Mayors attorney, E. Joshua Rosenkranz calls the D.A.s decision "total and complete vindication." He further stated that the DA was more concerned with widespread public attention than with the residents of New Palz (the town in New York that the mayor presides over). He further went on to chastise the DA for grandstanding for the past year and a half and pointed out that the charges were only pulled because the prosecution case was unwinnable.
The charges had previously been dismissed by a county judge in 2004, but were reinstated by a county judge in February. The mayor had appealed the reinstatement of the charges, but the New York State Court of Appeals declined to hear the case. The charges amounted to 24 counts of violating New York State nearly 100 year old domestic relations law. In February, the New York Supreme court upheld that Same Sex couples were guaranteed the right to marry under the state constitution, and compared the prohibition against same sex marriage to earlier bans on interracial marriage. The ruling is currently working it's way through the appeals process.
