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UPDATE 11/17/97 A Salt Lake County, Utah, district attorney who admitted to throwing out a stack of free newspapers was…

UPDATE

11/17/97

A Salt Lake County, Utah, district attorney who admitted to throwing out a stack of free newspapers was sued in late October by a reader who claims her constitutional rights were violated by the incident.

Salt Lake City Weekly reader Renee Cornelisen filed a $50,000 lawsuit in a state District Court in Salt Lake City against District Attorney Neal Gunnarson, charging that Gunnarson’s action essentially censored her letter to the editor.

“I felt violated by him taking the issue off the shelves,” Cornelisen told The Associated Press.

Gunnarson admitted in early September to throwing the newspapers away, after two Salt Lake citizens saw the incident and reported it to the paper’s managing editor.

A panel of five city prosecutors from around the state voted 3-2 in late September not to criminally prosecute Gunnarson. Chris Smart, the paper’s managing editor, said the paper has not yet decided whether it will file its own lawsuit against Gunnarson, the AP reported. (Cornelisen v. Gunnarson)

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