http://www.ocregister.com/news/case-acosta-duren-1869674-mesa-costa

Monday, October 1, 2007

Judge dismisses Acosta trial

Costa Mesa's case against Benito Acosta for disrupting

a City Council meeting has been dismissed because the

city attorney was not sworn in.

By NIYAZ PIRANI

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

NEWPORT BEACH The jury was dismissed Monday morning,

and by the afternoon the case of Costa Mesa against

Benito Acosta for disrupting a January 2006 City

Council meeting followed suit.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern

threw out the case because City Prosecutor Dan Peelman

was not sworn in as a public prosecutor before the

case was filed last year, said Acosta's attorney B.

Kwaku Duren.

Duren, who will act as co-counsel for Acosta with the

American Civil Liberties Union in a federal case

against Costa Mesa , said the dismissal is only

further ammunition in the civil case.

"The decision of the court this afternoon had nothing

to do with the merits of the case," Peelman said

Acosta, an immigration activist who goes by the name

of Coyotl Tezcatlipoca, faced a maximum fine of $2,000

and 1 year in jail if convicted.

Contact the writer: 714-445-6689 or

npirani@ocregister.com