Expressing doubt in the commonwealth’s chief witness and ruling the evidence did not rise to the level of the crimes charged, York County Judge John S. Kennedy dismissed charges against two men accused of trying to intimidate a city fire department codes enforcement officer.
Tony Brown, 42, of Park Place, and Johnathan T. Bourdon, 41, of Frederick, Md., were charged with misdemeanor and summary offenses for a November 2006 run-in at a gas station with York City firefighter Jason Rhoades. Rhoades, according to court testimony Tuesday, had filed several housing code citations against Brown’s wife, Susan Bassinger.
Brown was charged with retaliation for past official action and three counts of harassment. Bourdon, a Department of Defense police officer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., was charged with official oppression.
After hearing from Rhoades, who said the incident left him too stressed to work, Kennedy dismissed the misdemeanor charges against both men and also dismissed the jury that had been seated for the trial.
Kennedy then dismissed the sole remaining summary harassment charges against Brown.
Kennedy said Rhoades had not been arrested or detained by Bourdon, who had shown his police badge during the run-in, and that “even in the light most favorable to the commonwealth,” the legal standard in court, the allegations against Brown were not supported by the evidence offered to him Tuesday in court.
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