A 33-year-old New Orleans man accused of abducting his own 15-month-old daughter at the Mancos High School graduation in May saw a charge of second-degree kidnapping against him dismissed Wednesday morning.

Montezuma County Court Judge Christopher Leroi dismissed the Class 4 felony charge against John B. Coleman following a heated attorney debate at Coleman’s preliminary hearing.

In dropping the kidnapping charge, Leroi cited a 1986 Colorado Supreme Court case where a father had broken into his wife’s house and taken his child. The Supreme Court ruled that because the father had an equal right to his child, he could not be convicted of kidnapping.

"That case was similar to the (Coleman) case," Leroi said.

On May 21, Coleman allegedly attacked his ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old Jennifer Davis, while Davis was leaving the Mancos Performance Center with her daughter, Aniston Coleman, during the Mancos High School Graduation.

Davis said when she got up from the attack she saw Coleman running toward an alley on the north side of the building with Aniston.

Following the alleged attack, Coleman eluded police until June 5, when he surendered to Durango police after dropping Aniston off at his mother’s house in Louisiana. Coleman was then brought to Montezuma County, where he has been held on a $250,000 bond on charges of third-degree assault and second-degree kidnapping.

At the preliminary hearing, Coleman’s defense attorney, Kyle Ipson, told Leroi that he believed that District Attorney Mike Green had filed the kidnapping charge in "bad faith."

Leroi said that Ipson had shown the Supreme Court ruling to Green prior to Tuesday’s preliminary hearing and had encouraged him to re-think whether he wanted to continue pressing the kidnapping charge against Coleman.

"Ipson had previously disclosed the (Supreme Court) case to Mike Green and told Green to ‘recognize that your charging is in direct violation of this case,’ " Leroi said.

"What the (Supreme Court) case says is: Under modern law in most states, both parents have an equal and joint right to the custody of their minor children," said Leroi. "In the absence of a court order granting legal physical custody to the child’s mother, the defendant shares an equal right to the custody of the child."

Leroi said that since Jennifer Davis had not obtained a court order granting her custody of the girl at the time of the graduation, Coleman’s kidnapping charge would not hold up in court.

However, Green stated during the court proceedings that he did not agree with the Supreme Court ruling.

Coleman’s bond was reduced to $10,000 when the second-degree kidnapping charge was dismissed, Leroi said.

Ipson said Friday that he believed that Coleman would post bail by the end of the day.

Todd Starr, Davis’ attorney, said that Coleman still faces a charge of third-degree assault. A charge of child abuse was also added by the Montezuma County District Attorney’s office on Wednesday.

Starr said he believed that the child-abuse charge was added because when Coleman attacked Davis, the child was injured. Starr did not say how severe Aniston’s alleged injuries were.

Ipson said Friday that the testimony he had heard indicated that Aniston was sitting on the ground when Davis was attacked and had been picked without injury.

Starr added that Davis has been awarded temporary custody of Aniston from courts in both Colorado and Louisiana.