By Erin Holmes
eholmes@dailyherald.com
Posted Monday, June 25, 2007
http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=326286

A judge issued a warrant today for the arrest of Christopher Lee Bollyn, the one-time Hoffman Estates mayoral candidate convicted by a jury in June of resisting arrest and aggravated assault.

Bollyn, 50, was scheduled to be sentenced this morning, but never showed in court.

Cook County Judge Hyman Riebman issued the no-bond warrant about an hour after the scheduled court time.

“I’m not certain of the exact reason” he failed to appear, Bollyn’s lawyer, Paul Moreschi, said afterward. “I really just don’t know.”

Moreschi still filed motions to reverse the jury’s June 5 decision and for a new trial. The latter motion alleges myriad errors were made throughout the process.

“Christopher believes the whole process let him down,” Moreschi said. “He knows he’s innocent.”

Bollyn was convicted after a four-day trial and two hours of jury deliberations.

The saga began last August, when Bollyn - a self-described journalist who lost out in the city’s 2000 mayoral primary - called 911 to report a suspicious sedan driving in his neighborhood.

The car turned out to be an unmarked squad. When the officers returned to identify themselves, prosecutors say, a wrestling match ensued in the front yard of Bollyn’s Kingman Lane home that left Bollyn facing assault charges and alleging police brutality.

At the trial, prosecutors contended the officers - who eventually tackled Bollyn and used a Taser gun to stun him - were defending themselves from a man they say made a fist in one officer’s face and yelled that he was heading inside to “get reinforcements.” The police officers, tactical officers in the area for a traffic stop, testified they felt threatened.

Bollyn suffered a broken elbow in the fracas. Defense attorneys described him as a concerned husband and loving father, and contend police used excessive force and saw the incident as an excuse to let off some steam.

Bollyn’s two children were playing outside at the time.

Bollyn, a writer, has said he believed the men in the unmarked car were federal agents targeting him because of his views. He has published articles critical of the Iraq war and has suggested Israeli operatives had a hand in Sept. 11’s terrorist attacks.

After the trial, prosecutor James Pontrelli dismissed Bollyn’s claims as “ridiculous.”

Bollyn also has two theft convictions out of California in 1981, and an assault charge, prosecutors say.