News Releases SOS Circulator is Due in Court Florida Man Arrested After Allegedly Punching Petition Educator Faces Court Date on Wednesday Lincoln - A Florida man who served 10 years in prison for second degree murder is due in Lancaster County Court Wednesday on charges that he assaulted a University of Nebraska-Lincoln student. The student, 20-year-old Andrew Heard of Lincoln, was working as a voter educator for Nebraskans for the Good Life on July 7 when Joseph Carter Jr. punched him in the face. Carter, 41, of Hialeah, Fla., was a paid petition circulator for the SOS campaign, which seeks to place a restrictive spending lid on state government. Nebraskans for the Good Life is a coalition of statewide organizations opposed to the state budget lid. The alleged assault took place at a Lincoln HyVee store on North 27th Street. Heard was working near Carter, encouraging Nebraskans to think before they signed the SOS petition. At the encouragement of police, Heard was carrying a small tape recorder and caught the incident on audiotape. That tape has been turned over to law enforcement officials. Carter was arrested following the assault and charged with disturbing the peace. Lincoln police later discovered that Carter had spent 10 years in a Florida prison for second-degree murder. Carter was released from the Lancaster County Jail after paying a $50 bond. Carter's hearing in Lancaster County Court is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 9, at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom 24. Following the assault, a Nebraskans for the Good Life spokesman called the SOS petition drive to task for drawing out-of-state felons to Nebraska to run the petition-gathering operation. "We're repulsed by the thought that the SOS campaign leaders would import convicted felons, hand them a clipboard with a petition to change our state's Constitution, then send these felons into our neighborhoods, malls and grocery stores to harass our citizens in an effort to collect signatures," said Jess Wolf, president of the Nebraska State Education Association. To link to the Florida Department of Corrections records for Carter, go to this web site: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/appcommon/searchall.asp