ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Criminal charges against the mayor of New Paltz for marrying same-sex couples were dropped July 12 by the prosecutor, who said a trial would be unnecessary and divisive.

Village Mayor Jason West had potentially faced fines and up to a year in jail related to 24 misdemeanor counts filed after he married about two dozen same-sex couples in February 2004. The highly publicized ceremonies briefly made West’s little Hudson Valley village a focus of the same-sex marriage debate then roiling the nation.

West was among the first public officials in the nation to marry same-sex couples, following San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. West was charged with violating the state’s domestic relations law. A trial could have come by this fall.

But in a surprise move, Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams told the court he would decline further criminal action against West. Williams told the presiding judge that West is already enjoined from marrying more gay and lesbian couples because of a separate civil case and that courts and state officials have disagreed with West’s interpretation of the law.

“While a trial in this case would be filled with rhetoric and hyperbole, it would be lacking in a viable public purpose,” Williams wrote.

The prosecutor said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that a trial at this point would only serve personal agendas that could prove divisive.

West claimed victory, though he said he and his lawyer had looked forward to arguing his case before a jury.

“I think it’s complete vindication,” West said. “It’s not as public a vindication as we would hope for. Basically, Don Williams knows he would lose and he’s backing down. He’s been wasting taxpayer money for 18 months.”

West has maintained he was upholding the same-sex couples’ constitutional rights to equal protection – and thus his oath of office – by allowing them to wed. Williams has argued the West case was not about constitutional rights, but about a public official’s duty to follow the law.

Top state officials, including Gov. George Pataki and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, have said same-sex ceremonies violate state law. A number of cases filed on behalf of gay and lesbian couples testing that interpretation of state law are wending their way through courts.

Williams had earlier dropped similar criminal charges against two Unitarian ministers who wed same-sex couples in New Paltz after West was sidelined by the civil suit.