APny 11/06 0047 Court-Moonies

   By ROBERT BELLAFIORE Associated Press Writer

   ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A private investigator who specialized in
deprogramming  religious cultists has had his $24,000 libel award
against the New York State  Police  upheld  by  a  state  appeals
court.

   State  Police  arrested  Galen Kelly after he had a fight with
members of the Rev.  Sun Myung Moon's  Unification  Church,  also
known as  "moonies."    Kelly  had  been  hired by the parents of
Anthony Colombrito, then 27, of Ellenville, N.Y., who had  joined
the church.

   The  mid-level  Appellate  Division  of  state  Supreme  Court
unanimously ruled in Albany Thursday  that  State  Police,  after
arresting  Kelly  in  1979,  ignored his version of the story and
issued a news release that was false, defamatory and  maliciously
compiled.   The  ruling  upholds a decision by the state Court of
Claims.

   The news release detailed charges of assault,  kidnapping  and
weapons   charges  against  Kelly,  a  well-known  Ulster  County
investigator.  The release said Kelly, during a confrontation  at
his  farmhouse, pistol whipped the leader of a Unification Church
group that had been looking for Colombrito.

   Grand juries in Ulster County and New  Jersey,  where  charges
were  brought  "at  the  instigation"  of  New York State Police,
refused to indict Kelly,  the  appeals  court  said  in  its  5-0
decision.

   Kelly, who had been hired by Colombrito's parents, in response
accused  State  Police of trumping up charges against him because
they disapproved of his  efforts  to  deprogram  people  who  had
joined  such  religious  cults  as  the  Unification  Church, the
Appellate Division said.

   Kelly has since quit deprogramming and is currently a  private
investigator out of New York City, said his lawyer, John DeGraff.

   The Appellate Court, which earlier in the case threw out State
Police's motion to have the case summarily dismissed, agreed with
Kelly in part.

   "The  release  parrots  the  church  members'  account  of the
incident and a senior investigator of the State Police, at trial,
conceded that he  ignored  the  statements  of  (Kelly)  and  his
assistant  and  used the Church members' statements for the basis
of his felony complaint," wrote Appellate Division Justice Robert
Main.

   Kelly had sought damages  from  the  State  Police  for  false
arrest,  malicious  prosecution  and libel, but a Court of Claims
judge granted him the libel award only.

   The Appellate Division said there was  "clear  and  convincing
evidence"  that  the  State  Police  news  release was "false and
issued with malice."   Because  Kelly  was  considered  a  public
figure, he had to prove that State Police acted maliciously.

   Furthermore, State Police showed "continuing animus" for Kelly
by  pursuing  charges  in  New  Jersey and later in Ulster County
Family Court after the  original  jury  found  no  basis  for  an
indictment, the court said.

   "The  Court  of  Claims  found  ...  that the police officer's
testimony was far from objective and examination  of  the  record
finds  broad  support  for that conclusion," Main said. "The case
turned in large part upon the credibility of the witnesses."

   "The release, in readily understandable terms, accuses (Kelly)
of shameful, abhorrent and brutal behavior," the judge said.

   In the news release, State Police said  Kelly  "assaulted  the
leader of the (church) group" and later pistol whipped him with a
semi-automatic pistol, according to the court.

   However, medical examinations of both men found that the group
leader,  Peter Schepmoes, suffered only minor bruises while Kelly
had a "sizable gash on his head  and  a  concussion,"  the  court
said.