4-3-2009 Vermont:A Rutland man denied charges of menacing another man with a knife, saying he was trying to tell a sex offender to keep away from a mentally challenged teenage girl.
A knife is not needed to speak words, but it is used to intimidate or threaten someone.
Mark E. Kriskov, 47, of South Street, pleaded innocent Monday in Rutland District Court to a felony charge of aggravated assault with a weapon. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Rutland City Police said they responded to a call at about 7:45 p.m. Saturday that Kriskov, also known as Johnny Est, had pulled a knife on Stanton Patrick in a South Street driveway.
Patrick and two other witnesses at the scene said Kriskov arrived in a pickup, got out, called Patrick a child molester and threatened him with a hunting knife, according to affidavits.
Police said Kriskov told them he pulled a knife because Patrick came at him with a baseball bat — something the two witnesses denied. Police said they could smell intoxicants on Kriskov and that his eyes were bloodshot and watery.
Kriskov's roommate pointed police to a hunting knife with a 3-inch blade, police said, and witnesses identified it as the one Kriskov brandished. Kriskov continued yelling that Patrick was a child molester as he was arrested, police said, and on the way to jail commented, "I should have busted him up."
Clearly a hate crime!
While a search of the Vermont Sex Offender registry did not turn up a Stanton Patrick, somebody by that name was arrested in Pittsford in 1996 for having violated probation stemming from charges in Maine of two counts of gross sexual assault and one of rape.
In court, Kriskov was ordered held without bail on an alleged probation violation, and Judge Thomas Zonay set bail at $10,000 on the assault charge. Kriskov said that with bail so high, he might as well plead guilty then and there before going on to defend his actions.
Kriskov again claimed that Patrick had a baseball bat, and said the knife he had was a plastic toy, the knife police found was not his, and he did not threaten to stab Patrick.
He also said he saw Patrick giving candy to a mentally challenged 13-year-old girl from the neighborhood, calling the situation "another Brooke Bennett waiting to happen."
Zonay told Kriskov if he was concerned, he should have called the police immediately.
"You're not allowed, under any circumstances, to take the law into your own hands," Zonay said. ..Source.. by Gordon Dritschilo Staff Writer
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