Story reported and written by Upper Marlboro Patch Local Editor Michael Theis.
The case against Neil Prescott, the Crofton resident facing charges of telephone misuse after making threatening telephone calls to his former workplace last year, was dismissed by a judge earlier today in Prince George's County Circuit Court, according to reports.
In dismissing the case, Judge Patrice Lewis said that the charges did not adequately specify the crime Prescott was accused of,according to The Baltimore Sun.
“We feel that our prosecutors applied the law appropriately in this case, but the judge disagreed with us,” Prince George's County State's Attorney Alsobrooks said in a statement. “We knew this would be a tough case because of the lack of an appropriate charge to bring against Mr. Prescott.”
Prescott's charges stemmed from an incident in July 2012 where he allegedly called a coworker and threatened to shoot his supervisor at Pitney Bowes.
Prescott's alleged threats came in the immediate aftermath of the movie theater shooting in Aurora, CO which saw a gunman kill 12 people during a screening of a Batman movie. James Holmes, on trial for the Aurora shootings, also referred to himself as the joker.
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Prince George's County police, in statements to the media made after Prescott was arrested last year, honed in on Prescott's alleged use of the Joker nickname as evidence that his intentions were dangerous.
When searching Prescott's home, they also found a cache of guns and ammunition.
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According to the Associated Press, Prescott's lawyer intended to show that he was joking with his co-worker.
Previously, Alsobrooks has said that Section 3-804 was the only Maryland law under which Prescott could have been charged because the state does not have a law against making threats by phone. The charge of telephone misuse, which is a misdemeanor in the state, carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $500 fine.
“Despite today’s outcome, I’m proud of the collaborative work of my office, the Prince George’s and Anne Arundel County Police Departments and the ATF who moved quickly to apprehend Mr. Prescott and remove a potentially dangerous individual from our community,” Alsobrooks said in a statement.
Previous reporting by Jenni Pompi and Susan Jenkins contributed to this story.
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