No charges will be filed against any of the parties involved in a bizarre casino brawl involving Republican State Senator Mark Grisanti, his wife Maria, and members of the Seneca Nation. According to The Buffalo News, the Niagara County DA's office and the Niagara Falls Police Department released a joint statement announcing, "This case is closed."
The outcome is a common one for drunken brawls, as most of those involved are either reluctant to testify or were too intoxicated to do so credibly, and in this case insults were hurled from both sides (as were punches: Maria Grisanti suffered a concussion from the beating).
But if there are no legal consequences, there certainly are political ones, as the more conservative members of Grisanti's district have been itching for more reasons to dump him. Grisanti voted in favor of same-sex marriage (and most recently co-sponsored a bill that would ban the shark fin trade). Thankfully for the state senator, proponents of same-sex marriage have held up their end of the bargain by donating large sums of money to the campaigns of the Republicans who broke ranks.
"It is disappointing that enough evidence could not be collected to charge the people who attacked and injured my wife," Grisanti said in statement. "My only priority in all of this has been the well being of my wife Maria, and that does not change with the DA's decision."
