Spring Break
City arraigns more of those arrested at College Fest
Kevin Gareau
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: News
More people arrested at Saturday night's College Fest riots were arraigned yesterday at Portage County Municipal Court, including 18 people who were charged with failure to disperse.
Other charges included underage drinking and possession of marijuana.
As he did for the first round of College Fest-related arraignments, Judge John Plough ordered those who do not live on College Avenue to stay off the street as a condition of their bail.
"It is my understanding there could be more parties this weekend and next weekend, and I don't want any more incidents if they can be avoided," Plough said.
If students charged with failure to disperse are found guilty, they face up to 30 days in jail, but Plough agreed to suspend it if defendants write a one-page paper about civil disobedience, pay $150 in fines, perform 24 hours of community service and write letters of apology to the police departments involved.
Ohio law defines failure to disperse as an incident where five or more people participating in disorderly conduct that is likely to cause physical harm to others in the vicinity fail to obey police orders to leave the scene. It is a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
Those charged with underage drinking must not possess or consume alcohol, even if it is provided to them by their parents, Plough said.
Carol Crimi, an attorney for Student Legal Services, said she represented 11 Kent State students who were arraigned today.
Plough set the pre-trial hearing for those arraigned today for 2 p.m. June 3.
Contact public affairs reporter Kevin Gareau at kgareau1@kent.edu.
Other charges included underage drinking and possession of marijuana.
As he did for the first round of College Fest-related arraignments, Judge John Plough ordered those who do not live on College Avenue to stay off the street as a condition of their bail.
"It is my understanding there could be more parties this weekend and next weekend, and I don't want any more incidents if they can be avoided," Plough said.
If students charged with failure to disperse are found guilty, they face up to 30 days in jail, but Plough agreed to suspend it if defendants write a one-page paper about civil disobedience, pay $150 in fines, perform 24 hours of community service and write letters of apology to the police departments involved.
Ohio law defines failure to disperse as an incident where five or more people participating in disorderly conduct that is likely to cause physical harm to others in the vicinity fail to obey police orders to leave the scene. It is a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
Those charged with underage drinking must not possess or consume alcohol, even if it is provided to them by their parents, Plough said.
Carol Crimi, an attorney for Student Legal Services, said she represented 11 Kent State students who were arraigned today.
Plough set the pre-trial hearing for those arraigned today for 2 p.m. June 3.
Contact public affairs reporter Kevin Gareau at kgareau1@kent.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 6
Jimmy
posted 5/01/09 @ 10:35 AM EST
I hope these scumbag kids get what they deserve. Lefton should show some leadership and throw these idiots out of school. Oh wait, he's not a leader.
Kent PD MUST BE CLEAR
posted 5/01/09 @ 12:15 PM EST
ONE of the failures of Kent PD as shown on You Tube is that their instructions to the crowd are muddled, not clear and contradictory. An Order To Disperse MUST be repeated, CLEARLY and CONCISELY telling the crowd what is expected of them. (Continued…)
Cleveland Movers
posted 5/01/09 @ 3:23 PM EST
That seems like kind of a harsh punishment for failure to disperse. I wasn't there so I don't know, maybe they deserved it, but failure to disperse seems like a pretty minimal offense. (Continued…)
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