By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer
August 20, 2008 11:49 am
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors have reached a plea agreement with a man who was charged with carrying an unlawful knife outside a southeastern Iowa hotel where presidential candidate Barack Obama and his family stayed during a campaign visit in July 2007.
The case against Davit Zakaryan, an Armenian native living in Ohio who was selling campaign memorabilia in Iowa, took more than a year to wend its way through Iowa’s judicial system. It ended this month with prosecutors dismissing the knife charge and Zakaryan set to plead guilty to a simple misdemeanor charge of interference with official acts.
Under the agreement, he will get a 30-day suspended sentence and pay a minimum fine, said Wapello County attorney Allen Cook.
Cook maintains that Zakaryan lied to officers, but said it was disputed whether the item found in a seat pocket in the car he was driving was actually a weapon. Officials described it as an ornamental knife, but Zakaryan’s friends and attorney have said it was a fancy letter opener.
“I discovered that the Secret Service did their check of Mr. Zakaryan and they didn’t have concerns for him any longer. That gave me a little more discretion to dispose of the case,” Cook said on Tuesday.
A telephone call for comment from the Secret Service wasn’t immediately returned.
The arrest happened July 4, 2007, at an Ottumwa hotel where Obama and his family had stayed the previous night. Obama was in Iowa for one of many events held in the months leading up to the state’s lead-off precinct caucuses.
Court documents alleged that Zakaryan possessed and concealed in his vehicle a knife with a blade longer than 8 inches. Iowa law makes it illegal to have a knife with a blade of more than 8 inches “concealed on or about the person.” Zakaryan had faced a maximum prison sentence of up to two years and a fine of at least $625 on the misdemeanor charge.
Zakaryan, 24 at the time of the arrest and living in Ohio, was released from jail days later. In the following year, his case was repeatedly delayed as officials struggled to prosecute someone living outside of Iowa and in need of an interpreter who could speak Armenian.
In the motion to dismiss, Cook said the “costs associated with the prosecution of this matter, given its unique circumstances, are too much for the State to bear in a misdemeanor level case.”
Zakaryan’s attorney, Phil Ferren, of Ottumwa, said the case was difficult because of the delays. He said he assumes his client is happy with the plea agreement. Zakaryan couldn’t be reached for comment.
Carl Cardi, of Newark, Ohio, said he and his wife, an Armenian native, became friends with Zakaryan through their strong connection with the local Armenian community. He said Zakaryan, a trained physicist who was invited to come to the United States, is innocent.
“The city and the prosecutors realized that they didn’t have a case — the weapons charges were false,” Cardi said. “The plea agreement was basically to put it to rest.”
Cardi maintains that the Secret Service had checked out Zakaryan the day before the arrest and even allowed him to attend a private fundraiser for Obama to sell campaign memorabilia. Cardi has blamed local police for the arrest, accusing them of racial profiling.
Ottumwa police officials have reported that Obama’s security crew at the hotel became suspicious because they thought Zakaryan’s car looked familiar and may have been at an earlier campaign stop. A telephone message left with the police department wasn’t immediately returned.
Cardi said he’s also angry with the Obama campaign, claiming they didn’t intervene on Zakaryan’s behalf as more details came to light.
“July 4 is a slow news day and they used it for free media attention. That to me says a lot about Obama and his campaign people,” Cardi said.
A request for comment from the Obama campaign wasn’t immediately returned.
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Photos
Davit Zakaryan