Charges dropped in handshake assault

Published: July 11, 2008 at 4:06 PM

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., July 11 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors in Florida have decided to drop charges against a lawyer whose handshake was so vigorous it allegedly became an assault.

Kathy Brewer Rentas, who practices with a Hollywood, Fla., firm, was charged with assaulting a federal officer in February and spent a night in jail. One witness, a federal marshal, said that Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Keene was almost knocked down and almost had her shoulder pulled out of the socket.

But Steve Cole, a spokesman for the Orlando U.S. Attorney's Office, said that after talking to other witnesses prosecutors decided dismissal of the case would be "prudent," the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

The two women were adversaries at a hearing where Brewer Rentas's husband, Anthony Rentas, was the defendant. Rentas was ordered to spend 90 days in home confinement for violating probation in a drug case.

Topics: Steve Cole

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Charges dropped in handshake assault