The charges against a chicken-suit wearing man at Maurice A. Ferré Park were dropped Tuesday after state prosecutors viewed police body camera footage and determined the costumed character was just exercising his right to free speech and wasn’t really bothering anyone.
Morgan Dmitrimahan Gianola was charged last month by Miami police with disorderly conduct, trespassing and resisting arrest without violence. The charges came after he and three others dressed up in yellow chicken suits and clucked their way through a crowd attending the opening of Dog & Cats Walkway, a pet project of dozens of animal sculptures by Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo.
The chicken outfits were supplied by Miami filmmaker Billy Corben, a frequent critic of Carollo’s, who said he believed the project was a big waste of taxpayer money.
In his close-out memo, Assistant Miami-Dade State Attorney Michael Fente said video footage of the incident “lacks any evidence of any conduct considered disorderly” and that the crowd at the Feb. 11 event in downtown Miami seemed “generally uninterested” in any of the actions of the chicken-suit wearers. He also said there was no evidence that Gianola was told to leave and he didn’t appear to resist arrest.
Gianola, 31, and the others were also handing out T-shirts with a police mug shot of Carollo from when he was arrested on a domestic violence incident two decades ago. After his arrest on three misdemeanor counts, Gianola hired a trio of high-powered attorneys to defend him. Carollo, who claimed not to have seen the commotion, dismissed it as a stunt.
The protest group, which referred to itself as CUCK — or the Committee to Undermine the Carollo Klan — showed up at the park to protest the the project championed by Carollo, which was also questioned by some in Miami’s booming fine arts community.
Carollo, who chairs the trust that oversees Bayfront and Ferré parks in downtown Miami, latched on to the concept of dozens of colorful animal sculptures in the park next to the city’s museums about two years ago. The commissioner and his wife said the idea came up after visiting a similar-type park in Colombia that he said attracts large crowds.