Thursday, December 21, 1995
A NEWS
JIM SCHUTZE, Houston Chronicle Dallas Bureau Staff
DALLAS - A Dallas man, acquitted of molesting his son and daughter but stripped of his children anyway, surrendered Wednesday after being accused of threatening a witness in the criminal case.
He was quoted in a newspaper interview as saying, ""If I ever see her again, I will kill her."
Sadri ""Sam" Krasniqi, 56, an Albanian Muslim whose children were given to Christian parents by the courts, said in a Dallas Morning News interview published Nov. 29 that he was bitter the legal system had found him not guilty of molestation charges but had refused to give him back the two children taken from him and his wife by the courts five years ago.
""If I had known it would be like this," Krasniqi told the News, ""I would be dead a long time ago. But a lot of people would go with me."
The story said Krasniqi had seen one of the three female witnesses against him peer into his pizza shop several years ago.
The story described Krasniqi as holding two fingers and a thumb to his throat and ""appearing to squeeze his windpipe" while saying he would kill the woman if he saw her again.
Dallas County prosecutor Cecil Emerson said the quoted remarks were the basis for three charges of retaliation, a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each count. Krasniqi was indicted Tuesday.
In the same article, Krasniqi was quoted as saying, ""It would be wrong to hurt somebody."
When he surrendered for arrest Wednesday, Krasniqi told reporters in broken English, ""I don't know nothing. I no mean to hurt anybody. I no mean to kill anybody."
An attorney for Krasniqi called the charges against him baseless but said the trial process probably will be lengthy and complex. ""He's looking at $50,000 worth of legal services," said Gary Noble.
Krasniqi and his wife have gained international attention from Muslim groups and non-Muslim sympathizers with their claim that Dallas courts discriminated against them a claim angrily denied by the judge who presided over the jury trial in which the Krasniqis lost custody of their children.
The saga of the Krasniqi family involves two separate proceedings - a civil case in 1990, in which the couple lost custody of their children, and a criminal case, in 1994, in which the father was cleared of all charges he had ever molested his daughter and son.
The original charges stemmed from an incident at a suburban school gymnasium six years ago when witnesses swore they saw Krasniqi calmly fondling his 4-year-old daughter in front of hundreds of spectators at a karate match.
An anthropologist testified in the criminal trial that the witnesses had misinterpreted Krasniqi's behavior, which the anthropologist said was typical of people of his background and was strictly nonsexual. Medical experts, not called at the trial because the judge said he did not need to hear them, were prepared to testify there was no indication of molestation.
After he was acquitted of criminal charges, Krasniqi learned the civil court had awarded the children to Christian parents through an accelerated adoption process. All legal appeals since have failed, and he has been told he cannot see his children again until they are adults.
Krasniqi posted bond and left jail Wednesday afternoon.
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Mug: Sadri ""Sam" Krasniqi (p. 44)
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STORY ORIGIN: DALLAS
EDITION: 2 STAR
Word Count: 552 12/21/95 HSTNCHRON 33 END OF DOCUMENT