Lead Story
In April a man legally known only as Leigh was arrested for trespassing at the courthouse in Machias, Maine, for the 24th time. A former employee of the state marine patrol, Leigh has devoted himself to getting arrested for trespassing as a protest, hoping to convince the court to grant him a new hearing on his 1993 conviction for reckless conduct with a firearm. He’s spent about nine years in the county jail so far, and now has no other residence. Just before his most recent arrest, Leigh was convicted on trespassing charges number 22 and 23 and sentenced to time served, as he’d been in jail since the previous April; he spent the next two days doing errands, then went back to the courthouse to get arrested again.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Ronald Michalowicz, 55, filed a lawsuit in May against his former employer, the village of Bedford Park, Illinois. When Michalowicz was fighting a rare form of cancer in 2004, the odds looked bad that he’d survive, much less return to his job of 27 years as a fire inspector. Accordingly some colleagues solicited donations from the community to help him cover expenses (first clearing the idea with the mayor) and ultimately raised about $25,000. But after grueling radiation therapy Michalowicz made it into remission and went back to work in 2005; months later the village, under a new administration, fired him, only a year short of retirement, for having accepted the contributions, which it said was in violation of state and local ethics laws.
Least Competent Criminals
In December News of the Weird reported on a group of lawsuits alleging among other things that Seattle-area physician Dennis Momah had impersonated his twin brother, gynecologist Charles Momah, for the purpose of sexually abusing Charles’s patients. In May a judge ruled that the plaintiff in the first suit had fabricated her story with the help of her lawyer, Harish Bharti (who represents most of the complainants); Dennis Momah was awarded more than $3 million for defamation, and Bharti was ordered to post the judge’s ruling prominently on his Web site. Charles Momah’s 2005 conviction for sexual abuse was not affected.
