The “Pot Prof” is vindicated.
All charges were dropped today against respected SUNY Downstate neurologist Frank Barone, who’d been accused by his girlfriend of assault and harassment.
Barone’s now-ex, Gail Strum, 61, had claimed Barone had beat her and dragged her around by the wrists during a spat at their luxury Gold Street apartment back in May.
Prosecutors said they couldn’t prove a case against Barone beyond a reasonable doubt.
“This was a completely baseless allegation to begin with,” defense lawyer Javier Damien said after court. “Prosecutors wound up convinced that this woman was crazy, as I’ve said from the beginning.”
The Downstate Medical Center scientist was the real victim, the lawyer said. “He got beat up by her — he was only holding her so she wouldn’t continue to beat him with a shoe. She would also beat him while he was sleeping,” he said.
Strum is also beating on his reputation. She filed a $6 million law suit claiming that he is abusive and “smokes marijuana excessively and in his car while driving.” He also eats “concentrated marijuana put into foods such as brownies that are currently stored at SUNY Downstate,” the suit alleges.
Barone’s lawyer counters that SUNY has always understood that Strum’s charges are baseless.
“His work backs him 100 percent. He’s a fantastic research scientist and they like him very much.”
Barone did not appear in court today, but he has this advice to anyone interested in his tale, the lawyer said: “Be very careful of who you meet on the Internet.”