Kiefaber Trial Postponed Until November

The trial date for Tom Kiefaber, who is facing charges including second-degree assault and trespassing, has been postponed until Nov. 5.

A Baltimore City District Court judge ordered the trial delayed because the assault charge, which was placed on the stet docket following an incident last year, was just reopened at the behest of the state.

Kiefaber also told the judge that he needed time to arrange for a public defender because he is "indigent" and "basically homeless."

He would also say in court that the charges were an attempt to harass a private citizen who was advocating for the Senator Theatre.

"This is all just basically a show," Kiefaber said.

Kiefaber was arrested in August on trespassing charges outside of the Senator Theatre.

Last year he was ordered to stay away from the theater after he got into a heated argument with theater staff before a midnight showing of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows—Part 2 in July of last year.

Prior to that incident, Kiefaber also disrupted a City Council meeting by storming the dais to protest a bill adding the theater's interior to the city's historic landmark list, and then ran unsuccesfully for city council president. 

Kiefaber formerly owned the theater that his grandfather built in 1939. The city took over the theater in 2009, after guaranteeing a $600,000 loan in 2002, which was in danger of default.

The city then reached an agreement with James "Buzz" Cusack and his daughter and business partner Kathleen Lyon to lease the theater as Senator Theater, LLC.

They have since embarked on a project, which is now expected to cost $3.49 million, to rehab the building and add screens on to the original single-screen art deco theater. James "Buzz" Cusack has successfully run the Charles Theater in the Station North Arts District and helped spark a renaissance in that area of the city near Penn Station.

Kiefaber has maintained that the renovations are in violation of historic protections placed on the building, and accused the city of scuttling his original plans to turn the building into a mixed use entertainment facility run by a non-profit. 

The Board of Estimates is also set to vote on whether to approve the sale of the theater to Senator Theatre, LLC instead of leasing it during its meeting Wednesday morning.