From today's print column:

No sense beating around the bush. What happened to Kit Summers in Linwood District Court Wednesday morning was a travesty of justice. It may have been small travesty, but it was an ugly bit of burlesque just the same.

Please read it all.

Kit Summers was found guilty of disorderly conduct and harassment Wednesday based solely on the word of a man described by his neighbors as a "bully" and a "creep."

District Justice David Griffin thought he was being clever when he tossed out the most serious (and bogus) charge that would have required the case to go to Media for trial and then found Summers guilty of what was in his power to find him guilty of.

But he never heard Summers' side of the story.

Typically at a preliminary hearing, the accused does not testify. Griffin could have postponed judgement or dismissed the summery offenses. Instead he ordered both men into a community mediation program.

It is quite apparent that Griffin didn't want offend the Trainer cops who brought this flimsy complaint to his court. What is apparent to me, after to talking to Trainer Police Chief MaGaw, Summers, the complainant, and the neighbors, is that the cops did a awful job in handling the situation. They allowed a bully to pick on a weaker and more vulnerable member of their community. And that's not what good cops do. Good cops protect the weak against bullies. And they don't rationalize that putting a defenseless, brain-injured, man-child behind bars is really for his own good.

Below, can be found testimonials from people who know Kit Summers and know him to be peaceful, gentle, kind and about a threatening as a bunny rabbit. His accuser is a different story.

One good Samaritan reader (and blog commenter - Davee) says he will pay part of the court costs for Summers' to appeal of his convictions and will be pressing for an investigation into how the Trainer police handled the situation, specifically bringing charges against Summer but not against his neighbor after he was witnessed throwing a rock and hitting Summers in the chest with it.

In the meantime, I will be writing one more column for Sunday about Kit Summers and what kind of person he is.

Stay tuned.