A Hoffman Estates writer who says he has been
targeted by authorities because of his views was convicted
Tuesday on charges stemming from a confrontation last summer
with police outside his home.
Christopher Bollyn, 50,
was found guilty of misdemeanor aggravated assault and
resisting arrest after a four-day trial in the Rolling Meadows
branch of Cook County Circuit Court.
Jurors deliberated about two hours before
returning the verdict.
Bollyn, who has written for
several Web sites and has claimed that Israeli agents were
involved in the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001,
called police Aug. 15 to report a suspicious car in his
neighborhood. The car was an unmarked squad with three
tactical unit officers, and authorities said the officers
pulled into Bollyn's driveway in the 200 block of Kingman Lane
to identify themselves.
The officers testified that
Bollyn became belligerent and that they tackled him and used a
stun gun to subdue him after he told them he was going into
his house to get "reinforcements."
Bollyn, a onetime
candidate for mayor of Hoffman Estates, said the officers
never identified themselves.
During closing arguments,
defense lawyer Paul Moreschi said it was difficult to know for
sure what happened but told jurors that the "militaristic
appearance" of the officers disturbed Bollyn.
"To
contend that these officers -- armed with guns, bullet-proof
vests, a Taser, pepper spray and batons -- that they were
somehow afraid of this guy in a Hawaiian shirt, standing next
to his wife and daughter, is ridiculous," Moreschi
said.
But prosecutors argued that the three men showed
their badges and wore gear that clearly identified them as
Hoffman Estates police officers.
"This defense is
ridiculous," said James Pontrelli, an assistant state's
attorney. "Even the defendant's wife testified that one of the
officers 'showed me a shiny, little badge.' "
Pontrelli
said after the verdict that Bollyn's claims of a conspiracy
linked to his writings "was too hard of a story to sell to the
jury."
Bollyn declined to talk to reporters afterward,
except to say, "I just got found guilty, and I maintain my
innocence."
Sentencing is scheduled for June 25.
