2 INMATES BRAWL OVER WOODY ALLEN
by Dan Benson
dbenson@journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 23, 2007
Call it Ultimate Fighting Ebert and Roeper.
Two Ozaukee County Jail inmates are getting the thumbs down, felony style, from local law enforcement after tussling last week over the off-screen lifestyle of filmmaker Woody Allen.
According to a criminal complaint filed Monday in Ozaukee County Circuit Court, the fight began about 5:30 p.m. July 9 during mealtime when James F. Lala, 31, of Grafton asked fellow inmate Corey T. Wilson, 36, of Menomonee Falls what he thought of Allen's marriage in 1997 to Sun Yi Previn, an adopted daughter of Allen's longtime companion, Mia Farrow.
"Wilson told Lala that he thought that was perverted," the complaint says. "Wilson stated he continued to eat his meal when Lala came up to him and punched him in the face," and the two began to fight.
The fight lasted several minutes, with other inmates looking on until deputies restrained the two men with the help of pepper spray.
Lala, who was imprisoned in 1998 for having sex with a 15-year-old girl, was charged a year ago in May with 20 felony counts of possessing child pornography after investigators said they found 6,000 such images on his home computer. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years in prison.
Both Lala and Wilson have been charged with battery by prisoners and substantial battery, felonies for which they could be imprisoned 9 1/2 years if convicted.
