Media reports that stated that Michael McKinney was charged withtheft and criminal mischief are inaccurate and overblown,McKinney's former attorney said Wednesday.
"Mike had a few drinks, and he and a few fraternity brothersthought it would be a good idea to use a garden shovel to dig up astop sign," Tom Malapit, a lawyer at Dennis Wenger & AbrellProfessionals, said. "In fact, when they saw the police, theydropped the shovel and started walking."
McKinney was shot and killed early Saturday morning byUniversity Police Officer Robert Duplain. According to policereports, McKinney was pounding on the door of 1325 W. North St.because he thought it was a friend's house.
More than a year ago, McKinney was arrested at the intersectionof Locust Street and Beechwood Avenue on suspicion of theft,conversion, public intoxication and criminal mischief. A charge ofconversion is similar to theft, but not a felony, Malapit said.
According to police reports, Officer Rebecca Baer asked thegroup what it was doing. McKinney responded that he was "actinglike a moron," the report stated.
Though Baer arrested McKinney on suspicion of the four counts,the prosecutor dropped the theft and conversion charges, Malapitsaid.
Though prosectuors did charge him with criminal mischief,Malapit said they probably couldn't have proved it in court.
The case, however, did not go to court. Instead, Prosecutor JudiCalhoun agreed to a plea bargain. She dropped the criminal mischiefand public intoxication charges, and McKinney instead pleadedguilty to illegal consumption, a Class C misdemeanor.
McKinney had to pay a $50 fine, $132 in court costs and a $200interdiction fee, which helped pay for alcohol-education classes,Malapit said. McKinney also went through unsupervised probation for60 days and completed 10 hours of community service.
Calhoun said she couldn't remember why she accepted the pleabargain because she has had so many cases since then. She said morethan 3,000 misdemeanor cases go through the prosecutor's office ayear.
Calhoun said she didn't see the relevance of that conviction inregard to Saturday's incident.
"I don't see how the two can or are related," she said.
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