Police improperly seized a gravity knife and an ice pick belonging to a Madonna-obsessed ex-firefighter when they arrested him outside her apartment two years ago, a Manhattan judge ruled today in dismissing his felony weapons charges.
“I look forward to seeing justice work,” Robert Linhart said as he left court.
Linhart had been arrested twice in September, 2010, after parking his SUV outside the Material Girl’s Central Park West apartment, laying out a tarp, opening spray paint cans and creating seven-by-three foot poster-board professions of love.
“Madonna, I need you,” read one. “Tell me yes or no,” read another. “If it’s yes, my dream will come true. If it’s no, I will go. XXX.”
The decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Analisa Torres was the second set-back in the case for prosecutors, who must now decide whether to pursue the only charges left against the Madge-mad retired smoke-eater — for misdemeanor resisting arrest.
In March, another judge, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bonnie Wittner, had dropped the charges entirely, citing prosecutors’ failure to meet speedy trial deadlines. Wittner re-opened the case upon prosecutors’ admission that they had made an miscalculation.
Torres ruled today that cops had failed to get a search warrant before seizing the ice pick from Linhart’s car door pocket, and the gravity knife from a fanny pack he was no longer wearing.
Grabbing the weapons without a search warrant would only have been justified had they been within grabbing-distance for Linhart — and therefore an imminent danger to the public or the officers as they took him into custody, she wrote. His arrests on the two days — also challenged by the defense — were deemed lawful, as Linhart had been acting erratically and belligerently, she wrote.
“Mr. Linhart maintains his innocence and intends to continue to fight this case vigorously,” Linhart’s lawyer, Lawrence LaBrew, said after court. “The police actions were unjustified, and have been found to be so by the court, and we look forward to going forward in this matter, if the people intend to go forward.”