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SALT LAKE CITY -- Surveillance video released by the Salt Lake City Prosecutors Office shows the altercation between a gay couple and security guards for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints along the Main Street Plaza.
The LDS Church gave the video to the Salt Lake City prosecutor while it considered charges of criminal trespass against Derek Jones and Matt Aune.
The couple was arrested July 9, after security asked them to leave for what the LDS Church described as "inappropriate behavior," but they became "argumentative and used profanity and refused to leave the property."
The video shows four security guards talking to then detaining Jones and Aune but does not show the actions which led up to their detention.
The Jones and Aune say they only hugged and kissed, but in a statement the LDS Church said, "There was much more involved than a simple kiss on the cheek. They engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol."
On Wednesday, the prosecutor's office announced it would not prosecute the case because the men were not given adequate verbal or written notice that they were on private property.
Salt Lake City prosecutor Sim Gill said, "We wanted to be very clear in our analysis, as well, that none of the decisions that we made would [in] any way compromise the authority and the capacity of the property owner to be able to exercise their desire and their rights in the future."
ACLU attorney Marina Lowe said, "I think that, you know, it was a reasonable belief on the part of these two individuals that they were on public property, so I do think it's the right decision."
The video only became available to the public through an open-records request at the end of the investigation.
E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
