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A local man was acquitted by a visiting Franklin County judge Tuesday of criminal mischief in a case that revolved around different interpretations of the First Amendment.

Eliot Kalman, 69, of Athens was arrested on Oct. 28 after being caught placing stickers advocating constitutional separation between church and state on a Church Directory sign affixed to the front of the Athens County Courthouse. Criminal mischief is a third-degree misdemeanor.

During Kalman's trial Tuesday in Athens County Municipal Court, Dale Crawford, a retired judge from Franklin County, ruled that while Kalman, a former president of the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, has no constitutional right to deface somebody else's property, he did, technically, have a form of permission to deface the Church Directory.

"The defendant (Kalman) in this circumstance has the privilege because the county Commissioners have not taken that (privilege) away," Crawford said in his final statements. "If the county Commissioners want to limit a part of a county building to a specific use and grant it to specific improvement people, they can do so by resolution."

Crawford ruled to acquit Kalman of the criminal mischief charge before the jury could vote on the case after his defense submitted a request for a "rule 29 judgment of acquittal,"a motion a judge can make if evidence on the part of the prosecution is insufficient to sustain prosecution of the case. Crawford granted the motion, and Kalman was declared not guilty by the judge.

After the trial, Kalman was elated, if a bit shaken. "First time I've ever been arrested in my entire life, and it was scary," Kalman said, referencing his Oct. 28 arrest. "I'm relieved that it (the trial) is over. I'm glad that I wasn't found guilty. The nature of a 'directed verdict,'that's what we had... means that they (the prosecution) didn't even come close."

Kalman testified during the trial that he did in fact place the sticker on the glass of the Church Directory on Oct. 28, and his defense corroborated that he had placed similar stickers on the glass multiple times throughout 2014. His defense also provided photographic evidence of other stickers placed on the glass, most of which, Kalman said, were not his. Kalman throughout the trial maintained that he placed the stickers as a statement about the Directory being a violation of the First Amendment separation of church and state.

However, Judge Crawford said in his judgment that he was not in Athens to decide on the appropriateness of the Church Directory's placement outside of the county Courthouse.

"I'm not here to decide whether that's proper or not proper on the county building," he said. "I'll let some other person take care of that issue. It sounds a little simplistic to me."

According to testimony during the trial, the local religious group, Athens Christian Education Committee, maintains the Church Directory sign outside the Athens County Courthouse. Rita Snider, a member of ACEC who was called as a witness by city prosecutors, testified about her organization's perceived responsibilities in regard to the Church Directory, which lists numerous local churches as well as Hillel at Ohio University, a Jewish religious entity.

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Local First Amendment activist acquitted in trial involving Church Directory at courthouse