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October 7, 2004Attorney faces criminal chargesHe is scheduled to be arraigned todayByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - After refusing a plea offer from prosecutors, attorney Mark Messing faces criminal charges stemming from his arrest during President George W. Bush's August visit. Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Dennis LaBelle said the misdemeanor charges include attempting to resist and obstruct police as well as disorderly conduct for jostling in a crowd, which is equivalent to disturbing the peace. Messing said he was trying to represent Holly Wren Spaulding and Terri DeFilippo, Cedar women arrested by Traverse City police outside of the Grand Traverse County Civic Center on Aug. 16 after the presidential motorcade arrived. "During the incident, people with seats were pushed out of the way in conjunction with the whole episode," LaBelle said of the "jostling charge." According to court records, Messing was scheduled to be arraigned today before 86th District Court Judge Thomas Phillips. Last month, prosecutors offered Messing, Spaulding and DeFilippo a plea deal to impeding traffic, a civil infraction. The two women accepted the deal Sept. 20. But Messing's attorney Michael Dettmer wrote a scathing letter to LaBelle, turning down the offer and accusing the prosecutor of attempting to "extort" a plea from his client. Dettmer did not return a message left at his law office. "I assumed the letter was a 'no' to our offer, so we are going ahead," said LaBelle. "I learned how to do this by watching 'Law and Order.' We made an offer, it was refused, so we went ahead."
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