Kurt Mausert

Kurt Mausert (born 1957) is a criminal lawyer. He was one of the running candidates for the Family Court judge position in Saratoga County, New York.

During charity event in Vrindavana

As a practitioner of Vedic philosophy, Mausert has been the president of Care for Vrindavan for the last four years.[1] This charity supports in part Food for Life Vrindavan four schools and some social development programs for women, clean water projects, and Hare Krishna vegetarian food distribution, some reforestation efforts and medical services.[2] As the Saratoga County Family Court judge candidate, during his campaign in 2008, he was running on the Democratic line opposing his opponent's judicial record and said to have been refused a debate.[3][3][4][5]

At the Mohonasen High School in 1974 (right)

Mausert was born in Watertown, New York, in 1957 to John Mausert and Loretta Mausert.[1] Kurt graduated from Mohonasen High School in 1975 and attended college in Albany and Los Angeles.[1] After serving as a prosecutor in Concord, New Hampshire, he returned home to Upstate New York in 1988.[1] Mausert was admitted to the New York Bar in 1989 when he started his own law practice.[1] In a recent report dedicated to a deadly crash by WNYT NewsChannel 13 and according to The Post Star he is a long-time kayaker.[6][7]

He has been practicing in Saratoga Springs since 1989, covering Upstate New York areas.[8][9][10][11]

In 1991 Mausert successfully moved for the Queensbury, New York, Town Court Judge (Hon. Michael Muller), to have county prosecutor William Montgomery remove a flag pin he was wearing in court, arguing that the wearing of the flag may prejudice the jury. New York State Supreme Court Justice John Dier overruled the decision of Judge Muller. (Justice Dier was later admonished by the State's Commission on Judicial Conduct for unethical conduct in his handling of the case.)[12][13] But that ruling was in turn overturned unanimously by the New York State Appellate Division, 3rd Dept., (later affirmed by the highest court, the Court of Appeals), thus validating the position of Kurt Mausert in regard of wearing the flag pin by prosecution.[14][15][16]

Involvement in ISKCON

Mausert was introduced to the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana at the age of 13 by his eldest brother, Aksobhya dasa.[17] At the age of 20 he became a monk and joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City.[18] In January 1979, he accepted Satsvarupa dasa Goswami, one of the first disciples of the founder-acarya of ISKCON, as his diksa guru. At the initiation in 1979 he was given the name Kirtan Rasa Dasa.[18]

After the death of his brother Aksobhya dasa in February 1979, he learned his system of indexing books and went to work for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust charity in Los Angeles.[18] Aksobhya dasa, also known as Eric Mausert, was based in Honolulu when he was killed February 22, 1979.[9] At the BBT, Kurt wrote indexes for translations of the Isopansad, the Brahma Samhita, the Bhagavad Gita, volumes of the Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita's biography and various other books. Mausert was given brahminical initiation in July 1980 by his spiritual master, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. While in law school, he continued to edit indexes for the BBT.[19] He is teaching yoga and Vaishnavism in a number of venues in New York state.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mausert for Family Court (Compaign Information Page)". mausertforfamilycourt.com. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  2. ↑ Humanitarian Pursuits and Volunteer Work
  3. 1 2 The Post Star "Judge hopeful wants debate" 2008/09/27
  4. ↑ The Post Star "Judge candidate slams his opponent's record" 2008/10/08
  5. ↑ Kathy Bowen dailygazette.com "Fight erupts over judge's slogan," September 5, 2008.
  6. ↑ Video Report WNYT 18 June 2010 WNYT (TV)"Attorney: Kayaker could have prevented deadly crash"
  7. ↑ D. Lehman Client not at fault in fatal kayak collision The Post Star June 17, 2010.
  8. ↑ lawyersaratoga.com
  9. 1 2 Michael Hill, Brother seeks belated justice in 1979 fatal stabbing in isles 2006/08/13 Associated Press.
  10. ↑ "Officer assault charges tossed", The Saratogian, May 20, 2009.]
  11. ↑ "Biker: DMV stole my motorcycle". poststar.com. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  12. ↑ "The Daily Gazette: Prosecutor in Flap Over Flag Pinned to Lapel". Associated Press. 18 March 1991. p. b4.
  13. ↑ "Dier 2". webcache.googleusercontent.com. Archived from the original on August 26, 2003. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  14. ↑ This event was covered in New York Times February 14, 1992.
  15. ↑ Michael Welch, Flag burning: moral panic and the criminalization of protest, p.91, Transaction Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-202-30652-6
  16. ↑ Robert Justin Goldstein, Burning the Flag: The Great 1989-1990 American Flag Desecration Controversy, Kent State University Press, 1998. p. 355.
  17. ↑ "Aksobhya dasa". vaisnavascare.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  18. 1 2 3 "Yoga Mandali of Saratoga Springs: Instructors bio". yogasaratoga.com. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  19. ↑ Yoga Mandali Instructors Biography

External links

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