Posted on 03/02/2004 2:03:21 PM PST by SMGFan
Ulster County District Attorney charged the Mayor of New Paltz New York with 19 counts of solemnizing a wedding without a license.
Well, it's about time ! Now if Californica could get with the program !! ...See #18 ...
Excerpt:NEW PALTZ, N.Y. The mayor of this village was criminally charged Tuesday for marrying gay couples who did not have a license.
Jason West (search) faces 19 separate counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license, a misdemeanor under the domestic relations law, according to Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams. Although West could face a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail, Williams said a jail term wasn't being contemplated at this point.
"It'th an outrage!" said Henry Fitzpatrick.
He and Patrick Fitzhenry are long-time companions from Northern Ireland who traveled to New Paltz last week because they thought it would be "cute" to exchange vows in a place called Ulster County.
/sarcasm off/
Of course. A liberal judge can even give the mayor a medal.
We'll have to wait'n see
Four days after presiding over a slew of same sex marriages in his quaint Hudson Valley village, the mayor of New Paltz today was charged with 19 violations of New York's domestic relations law, injecting the debate over gay marriages in the state with increasing drama and urgency.
Jason West, 26-year-old Green Party mayor, was ordered to appear in court Wednesday to answer charges that he broke state law by solomizing about two dozen weddings without a marriage license, according to New Paltz police and West's lawyer.
Chief Raymond Zappone said he and a lieutenant from the town police served a 19-count summons to West Tuesday afternoon and that the mayor faces up a $500 fine and a year in jail for his actions which have attracted international attention and brought the fight over gay marriages squarely into New York.
The actions come as West is planning to hold more ceremonies this weekend and with other officials around the state considering similar actions. It also coincides with increasing pressure on State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who last week refused a call by the governor to prevent and nullify the marriages, to step in and issue some clarifying words on the complex legal issues at play.
Actually, I don't think Spitzer could have prosecuted the Mayor-- in New York, jurisdiction over most crimes is with the local D.A., not the A.G., except for certain special types of cases (tax, securities, a few others) or unless the Governor specifically assigns the AG to the case.
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