A 61-year-old Montour man, who works at Geneva General Hospital was indicted by a grand jury in Schuyler County after officials say he perjured himself during jury service in a rape case.
Gary Kline, of Montour was charged with two counts of second-degree perjury and one count of second-degree criminal contempt. The charges stem from Kline’s jury service, which began in January and resulted in a hung jury.
The case involved two men, who were tried for allegedly raping a physically helpless 18-year-old woman at one of the suspect’s home.
The two men, identified as Jeff Forney and Aaron Bowen, then dumped the victim’s unconscious body on the side of the road in Horseheads.
The trial lasted four weeks, resulting in a hung jury. The duo will be re-tried in May.
The perjury charges against Kline are Class D felonies, which carry a maximum penalty of 2 to 7 years in prison. The contempt charge is a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of up-to one year in jail.
The Schuyler County District Attorney’s Office says that Kline lied about having no previous criminal convictions, and also failed to disclose that the District Attorney’s Office had prosecuted his wife — identified as Katharine Bartholomew, for giving a special needs student a combination stun gun and plastic knuckles.
At the time, Bartholomew was employed as a biology teacher at the Watkins Glen Central School District. She was ultimately acquitted of all the charges in January 2016 — but did resign last year.
The District Attorney’s Office says that Kline failed to reveal this relationship to the court, the prosecutor, and the defense attorneys during jury selection.
The indictment alleges that Kline did not reveal to the court when asked that he had been convicted of a crime — when in 2006 he was convicted in Federal Court of damaging federal property.
In that instance, he pleaded guilty to splashing his own blood on the Federal Courthouse, and then further smearing his blood on the building with his hand, in protest of the trial of several of his friends for committing a similar act in Tompkins County.
Kline is also accused of deliberately disobeying Judge Morris’ orders during the deliberation phase of the Forney-Bowen trial.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Kline is also employed by Finger Lakes Health as a nurse at Geneva General Hospital.
Kline appeared in Schuyler County Court on March 15th for arraignment and was adjourned until his next court appearance set for April 3rd.
