5 Exciting Verdicts: Occupy Keeps Winning in Court

[Fire Walk With Me]

IO: (InterOcc) ?@InterOcc

5 Exciting Verdicts: #Occupy Keeps Winning in Court http://www.care2.com/causes/5-exciting-verdicts-occupy-keeps-winning-in-court.html …
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http://www.care2.com/causes/5-exciting-verdicts-occupy-keeps-winning-in-court.html

1. Last week, a jury acquitted a dozen Philadelphia Occupy activists charged with conspiracy and trespassing for holding a sit-in at a Wells Fargo bank. Apparently, the jury agreed with the protesters that the message of the protest was important enough to override the trespassing charges. But it was the judge, Nina N. Wright Padilla, who seemed most impressed with the twelve people on trial. Calling them the “most affable group of defendants [she’s] ever come across,” she shook all of their hands after the trial and said, “I hope you continue your work in a law-abiding way.”

2. Michael Premo was found innocent in New York City’s first Occupy trial to go before a jury. Police had trumped up charges against Premo, alleging he had rushed at an officer and knocked him over, breaking one of the officer’s bones. When Premo insisted he did no such thing, his lawyer asked for the police’s video footage of the incident, which they claimed did not exist.

So instead, she turned to citizen journalist footage and found a clear shot of the arrest. The video showed that it was the officer who violently tackled Premo, not the other way around, and that the officer’s account was fabricated. Moreover, the footage shows a police officer nearby filming the scene.

Will the police be tried for lying, creating false charges, and obstructing evidence? Don’t hold your breath. As Premo declared after his trial, “There is no justice in the American justice system, but you can sometimes find it in a jury.”

(More at the link.)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. DU Rec

[sabrina 1]

2. I don't think they've lost a case yet. And over and over there is proof of the police

lying to get convictions, which in any real democracy would be considered a major crime against the people.

Thankfully juries so far cannot be bought. Although I would not be surprised if they are working on it.

I hope the lawsuits already filed will expose more of the corruption surrounding the attempt to destroy this movement.

The Government in this country is a disgrace. Not one word was spoken, even after the request from the UN Rappateur, against the brutality of the police against peaceful US Citizens. Regardless of where someone stands on the issues, what happened to those American citizens should have shocked everyone in this country.

[starroute]

3. The problem is that the police may want it that way

They get to arrest a bunch of people for no good reason, prevent them from participating in whatever protests are ongoing, tie them up in court appearances for a year, and send a message to everybody else that this is the sort of trouble you can get into for opposing the system even if you never break a law.

Lots of pluses for the cops there and no downside, even if they do eventually lose the trials.

[SamReynolds]

4. How much does a jury trial cost a city?

From what I understand, it's not a few hundred bucks.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. And this of course, is domestic terrorism. n/t