[media-credit name=’JOSEPH LEUTE/Herald Photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]Felony charges have been dropped against the two University of Wisconsin students involved in an incident in Ogg Hall that resulted in hate crime charges last December.

Dane County Assistant District Attorney Gretchen Hayward dropped the felony charge against UW freshman Michael Riha during a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

The other UW student involved in the incident, freshman Ben Chamberlain, already had the felony charges against him dismissed March 22. However, Chamberlain pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct that same day.

Riha still faces a charge of misdemeanor disorderly conduct for his role in the December incident.

"The state is moving to dismiss the criminal damage [to property] charge," Hayward said Tuesday. "But [Riha] will still be charged with a disorderly conduct hate crime."

Hayward would not comment further on the issue, saying she would not talk about a case that was still open.

Riha's defense attorney William Ginsberg said he was pleased that Hayward dismissed the felony criminal damage to property charge.

"Our whole defense related to Mike [Riha] is, he wasn't present — he wasn't there when the more serious offenses occurred," Ginsberg said.

According to the criminal complaint, Chamberlain and Riha were involved in an incident last December in Ogg Hall.

The two UW students, along with two students from out-of-state universities, were accused of vandalizing the door of the dorm's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender liaison. The group was also accused of yelling derogatory names and writing anti-homosexual comments on the liaison's white board.

"[Riha] actually never did any of the damage to the property and he never yelled any of the verbal threats and he never wrote anything on the boards," Ginsberg said. "He is innocent of the most serious charges."

The four students were later charged with a variety of crimes, including felony hate crime charges.

Chamberlain was quoted in the criminal complaint as saying, "I tore down a picture, I was showing off and saw a picture of two guys kissing. I am conservative and had a problem with it. Why does the photo have to be displayed in public? Keep it to yourself. I tore it down."

Chamberlain's lawyer could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Ginsberg said the other students facing hate crime charges told detectives that Riha was involved with the property damage, but that those statements were "not accurate."

And Ginsberg added the fact that the felony charges were dropped improved Riha's situation.

"We are the first ones to acknowledge that this is wrong and a crime," Ginsberg said. "The victim never should have been subjected to this."

Ginsberg continued to say that he would have been the "first person" to speak out against the alleged actions if he had witnessed them.

"No one is trying to minimize the significance of what happened," Ginsberg said, adding he is hopeful that Riha will not have to stand trial for the disorderly conduct charges that are still pending against him, but rather hopes to make an additional deal with the DA.

"It's pretty likely that we will come up with some [deposition] prior to a trial on the particular charges," he said.