A UNM senior who received five criminal citations for an art project gone bad in December says he plans to take his case all the way to trial.
"It was not my aim to get involved with any legal issues," said Sean Winkless-Hall.
The five misdemeanor charges against Winkless-Hall come from an installation art project that turned into a major fiasco when gas began to leak from a car he and his project members pushed onto campus Dec. 6.
The incident was the final project for Winkless-Hall and two other students in the Art 122 Dimensional Design course last semester. The concept behind the project, Winkless-Hall said, was to create an installation art piece to be placed on campus involving some photography and parts of a dismantled car. Eventually the project idea evolved into placing a gutted automobile on campus.
The problems began after Winkless-Hall, junior Beau Carey and senior Ian Vetter rolled the car on to its side and gasoline began to leak from the car's fuel lines, despite the students removing a majority of the engine's components.
After gasoline began spilling onto the mall outside of the Pizza Hut kiosk west of Ortega Hall, University police were contacted which eventually led to the Albuquerque Fire Department's Hazardous Materials unit arriving to clean up the gas spill.
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Winkless-Hall attempted to explain to police that the group had received authorization for the installation project from UNM Safety, Health and Environmental Affairs Department, but when police contacted the department, officials said they had no knowledge of the project.
But the group did obtain a letter of permission from the department -- however, the students failed to get the necessary permit to use campus property from Student Activities.
"The student did indeed check with SHEA," said Randy Boeglin, UNM dean of students. "There has been an ongoing internal investigation."
In addition to the various criminal charges Winkless-Hall and the others face, the University is looking into the incident to determine if there is need for any action.
Winkless-Hall received criminal citations for conduct offensive to public well-being, unlawful assembly, criminal damage to property, wrongful use of public property and public nuisance, all of which are misdemeanors. He was cited and released to the custody of his attorney, according to the UNM police report.
Carey was cited for unlawful assembly and criminal damage to property. According to the metropolitan court criminal complaint, charges of unlawful assembly and criminal damage to property against Vetter were dismissed because of an insufficient complaint. Calls regarding the dismissal to the district attorney's office were not immediately returned Wednesday.
Also charged in the incident with unlawful assembly and criminal damage to property was Peter Henne, a friend of Winkless-Hall.
On the advice of his attorney, Winkless-Hall pled innocent to the charges at his arraignment earlier in the month. His trial is set for Jan. 31.
Winkless-Hall said he will probably get a light sentence because the charges are only misdemeanors and because he has no criminal record.
"It's kind of entertaining to a certain degree," Winkless-Hall said.
But he added that the prosecution of an art student who tried to complete an art project on campus is a little bit of overkill.
He is not the only one who thinks prosecution, no matter how light the sentence, is a little over the top.
Sasha Custer, the teaching assistant who was the instructor for the Art 122 course, said Winkless-Hall had gone to great lengths to satisfy any safety concerns when he removed portions of the car's engine and when he got approval from the Safety, Health, and Environmental Affairs department. The gas spill that originated deep inside the car's fuel lines, Custer said, was something that could not have been foreseen.
Despite the criminal charges and the fiasco on campus, Winkless-Hall, Carey and Vetter ended up creating a secondary project that was submitted for a passing grade in the class.
The final project the group completed -- a mock memorial roadside cross bearing the phrase "Rust in peace."
