PEORIA -- Peoria Area Voices for Animals activist Doris Muller carried a notebook filled with evidence to prove her innocence at a Jan. 31 bench trial in Peoria County Circuit Court. She didn't need it.
The case against her, for disorderly conduct, was dismissed when police officers were not in court to testify.
Duane Bartels, reporter for the Peoria Times Observer who was in the courtroom when Muller arrived, said police were present earlier but left.
Muller, 64, was arrested on Aug. 31 after she photographed animals in a traveling "big cat" zoo appearing at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie. The owner of the show told police Muller was an "animal terrorist," she said, and people took the word of this out-of-tower while never giving her a chance to tell her side of the story.
The grandmotherly animal lover was arrested and roughly handcuffed by Peoria's finest.
The animal show owner apparently was miffed over over bad publicity from earlier photographers.
Muller said she was relieved that the case was dismissed. "The police report was full of lies," she said, adding she was treated roughly by police during the arrest.
She filed a complaint about police conduct but has not received a response.
For her, the case meant "a lot of stress thinking about it and wondering if I could trust the legal system to be just and fair, especially (when) police officers would testify," she said.
Asked whether she regretted her actions, she responded, "next time I will not go alone. There's safety in numbers. Take your witnesses with you."
For a complete account of the arrest and to see a photograph of the animals posted before Muller's arrest, click here and scroll down to Oct. 4 and earlier.
-- Elaine Hopkins
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