SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) - A Charlestown man has won a lawsuit accusing local police of maliciously prosecuting him during a dispute with his neighbors.
The Providence Journal reports the jury Friday found that Peter Bloomquist should not have been charged with disorderly conduct in 2012.
The court awarded Bloomquist $7,647 in legal fees, but no punitive damages.
The police brought three charges against Bloomquist for putting up displays outside his home that included an anatomically correct copper pig weather vane; and a blow-up doll, which was put in a tree he believed his neighbors had killed to protect their ocean view. He was also accused of playing loud music.
A judge later dismissed the charges related to the displays, ruling they amounted to free speech. Bloomquist entered a plea agreement to have the other charge expunged after a year if he obeyed the law.
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