Vt judge won't drop charges against wind foes - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

Vt judge won't drop charges against wind foes

NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont judge has rejected arguments of a lawyer for protesters arrested at the Lowell Mountain wind power project and will let unlawful trespass charges against the project foes stand.

Defense lawyer Kristina Michelson, representing five of the six people arrested, had argued that the state is abusing the criminal process to try to resolve a property-line dispute between the project's developers and a neighbor.

But Judge Robert Gerety Jr., who's been hearing the case at the Vermont criminal division court in Newport, ruled that it did not appear to him that prosecutors were using the criminal case to try to gain an unfair advantage in the civil property dispute.

That means the criminal trespass cases can go ahead.

The wind power project is slated for completion late this year.

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