Tuesday, October 10, 2006

His wife at the time, Rebecca Wexler, dropped the abuse charge, and Fine succeeded in having the case removed from Hennepin County court and police records, according to documents recently obtained by the Star Tribune.

Fine, who is the Fifth District Republican candidate, said in a recent interview that he never struck Wexler.

He said he sought to have his records expunged because he was innocent.

Wexler said Thursday that she agreed to drop the charges two to three weeks after the arrest only because Fine pressured her and because he promised to work out their problems in marriage counseling. The couple divorced the following year.

[...]

In the interview and in court documents, Fine accused his ex-wife and her father, Hennepin County Judge Thomas Wexler, of conspiring in 1995 to stage a domestic incident and get him arrested for assault in order to make him "look bad" before he filed for divorce. "They wanted to have leverage in the divorce," Fine said. "I'm speculating here. I don't have proof."

Fine stated in an affidavit connected with the divorce proceedings that his then-wife "admitted to me, in the presence of another person, that she had made a mistake in having me arrested and that her allegations were untrue." Fine was asked repeatedly by reporters to identify who that other person was. He said he could not remember.

Thomas Wexler, who has been on the court bench for 16 years, said he and his daughter did not try to stage the incident.

"As a matter of fact, Rebecca had been reporting to me that Alan had been hitting her prior" to the incident, Thomas Wexler said. He said that his wife had advised their daughter to call the police if another incident took place and that his daughter heeded the advice.

Fine was arrested by Minneapolis police and booked into the county jail for fifth-degree assault on June 2, 1995, according to the sealed police report obtained by the Star Tribune. Fine was shown the report and did not dispute its authenticity.