While it may not meet the Bush administration's high standards for using the justice system for political ends, Weld County, Colorado, prosecutors showed at least as much zeal - and as little competence - with their prosecution of a dog crap case that failed Wednesday.
A former French professor and Democratic activist was acquitted of "criminal use of a noxious substance" for leaving a campaign flier full of dog poop at the office of Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) last fall.
Prosecutors with ties to Musgrave brought the misdemeanor charge to court claiming it was an attempt to disrupt her re-election campaign. But even with the accused's confession they couldn't sell it to the jury, and the perp walked.
Local news media report that Kathleen Ensz never denied leaving the multimedia exhibit (merde de chien?) in front of Musgrave's Greeley office last year.
Those of us who have to deal with the malodorous winds blowing off Greeley's' endless cattle lots may consider taking poop there to be a "coals to Newcastle" affair, but for Ensz it was protected political speech in response to a piece of Musgrave junk mail.
According to the Longmont Daily Times-Call:
Ensz testified Wednesday and told the jury that she "just snapped" when she saw the political mailer, which talked about pharmaceutical costs for seniors.
Ensz said she repeatedly contacted Musgrave’s office to stop sending the mailer. She said she decided to pick up her dog’s poop with the mailer and drop it off at Musgrave’s office, but that she did not intend to disrupt the use of the property.
"It was purely and simply to express my opinion," she said.
Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck disagreeed, and asked Greeley police to pursue charges against Ensz. By an amazing coincidence, it turns out he's got strong ties to Musgrave, serving as chairman of her current re-election committee.
Musgrave's campaign was well accustomed to flinging crap, and squeezed out a press release trying to pin the dirty doggy diaper on the campaign of Democrat Angie Paccione, a connection the campaign denied. Musgrave narrowly edged out Paccione after running a particularly dirty campaign.
Ensz's attorney Shannon Lyons told local media she was astounded by how much public money was spent pursuing the charges against her client.
"The waste of resources on this poop case — I’ve never seen anything like it before," Lyons said.
"(Ensz) was the first person prosecuted in Weld County for leaving dog crap," she said.
Another of Ensz's lawyers, Patricia Bangert, was quoted as saying she may now file a civil suit against Weld County or Musgrave for inappropriately charging Ensz out of political motivation.