It took nearly three years, but a bogus trespassing charge was dismissed against a Missouri man who refused to stop recording during a republican caucus in 2012.
Kenneth Suittor was arrested at the St. Charles republican caucus, where they were planning on selecting delegates to send to the Republican National Convention in Tampa.
But state representative Bryan Spencer spoke on the microphone, informing more than 1,000 people in attendance that they will not be allowed to record, ordering them to turn off their cameras, prompting a chorus of boos, turning the caucus into a raucous affair.
Suittor continued recording and was arrested, charged with trespassing. It should have been a quick and easy case, but they dragged it out for almost three years before they finally dismissed it.
According to the [__St. Louis Today__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/article_235a0bda-e2ad-597a-b8a5-d6a541b9cf1b.html) after his arrest:
> Two off-duty St. Peters police officers were hired for the caucus, but the crowd quickly swelled to more than 2,500 people, according to St. Peters police. Stafford estimated between 1,000 and 1,500 people showed up.
> At 11 a.m., rules for the caucus were announced to the crowd, including a ban on videotaping. According to police, the crowd became upset with the rules and started to become verbally aggressive with the event’s organizers and police officers at the scene.
> After the caucus was adjourned, people began to pour outside to the parking lots. St. Peters police received assistance from the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department, St. Charles police and St. Peters Park Rangers.
> Eugene Dokes, who was elected chairman of the St. Charles County Republican Central Committee last July, was serving as the temporary chairman for the caucus. Dokes was in Washington, D.C., Monday when he described why the meeting was adjourned.
> “The police told us it was getting too rowdy and to shut it down,” Dokes said. “So we made a motion to adjourn. Some people were not ready to leave the property and they started to reconvene in the parking lot, and it’s my understanding that’s where people were arrested.”
Suittor was also [__arrested in 2013__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2013/11/st-louis-county-police-arrest-man-video-recording-train/) for video recording on a train platform, but that charge was [__dropped in three weeks__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2013/11/st-louis-county-cops-drop-charges-man-arrested-recording-train-metrolink-libels/), not three years. Spencer is [__still in office__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/member.aspx?district=063).
