Occupy Wall Street Activist Found Guilty of Assaulting Police Officer
Source: The Guardian
Occupy Wall Street activist found guilty of assaulting police officer[
Cecily McMillan faces up to seven years in prison
Occupy protesters shouting 'shame' led out of courtroom
Jon Swaine in New York
Monday 5 May 2014 15.17 EDT
An Occupy Wall Street activist is facing up to seven years in prison after being convicted by a jury in Manhattan of assaulting a New York police officer as he led her out of a protest.
Cecily McMillan was on Monday afternoon found guilty of deliberately elbowing Officer Grantley Bovell in the face in March 2012. After a trial lasting more than four weeks, the jury of eight women and four men reached their verdict in about three hours.
Judge Ronald Zweibel ordered that McMillan, 25, a graduate student at the New School, be detained. He rejected a request from her lawyers for bail.
I see absolutely no reason why a remand would be appropriate here, said Martin Stolar, her lead attorney. She is not likely to be somebody to cut and run. Zweibel replied: Remanded pending sentencing.
Supporters of McMillan in the courtroom reacted furiously, shouting shame and screaming at the more than 30 police officers lining room 1116 at Manhattan criminal court. After half a dozen refused to leave the court, two were carried out by police officers.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/05/occupy-wall-street-cecily-mcmillan-guilty-assaulting-police-officer
Disgusting. This verdict is a joke.
Here's the backstory:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/179330-outrageous-trial-cecily-mcmillan
The Outrageous Trial of Cecily McMillan
Michelle Goldberg on April 14, 2014 - 2:05PM ET
Two years ago, a young activist named Cecily McMillan attended a protest at Zuccotti Park marking the six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. When police moved in to clear the demonstrators, a cop roughly grabbed her breastphotos show an ugly bruiseand she ended up being injured so badly that she had a seizure and ended up in the hospital. In a just world, she would be getting restitution from the City. Instead, in a grotesque act of prosecutorial overreach, she's currently on trial for assault and facing up to seven years in prison.
According to prosecutors, McMillan, now 25, intentionally attacked her arresting officer, Grantley Bovel, by elbowing him in the face, and was then hurt when he tried to subdue her. She says that she instinctively struck out when she felt his hand on her breast, not knowing that he was a cop, and was then further assaulted.
Her story is more convincing for a number of reasons. McMillan, a veteran of the antiScott Walker protests in Wisconsin, was a dedicated pacifist; in Dissent, her masters thesis adviser Maurice Isserman writes about the "many and long discussions Cecily and I have had about nonviolence." Her injuries, which you can see in this Democracy Now! piece, are indisputable, particularly the hand-shaped bruise on her right breast.
Meanwhile, The Guardian, which has covered McMillan's case closely, reports that Bovel has twice been investigated by Internal Affairs, including for one incident in which he and his partner were alleged to have run down a 17-year-old on a dirt bike. He received a "command discipline" for failing to radio that they were in pursuit. In another case, he was filmed kicking a suspect on the floor of a Bronx bodega. (Unfortunately, the judge in McMillan's case has ruled against turning Bovel's internal disciplinary file over to the defense.) Austin Guest, a protester who was arrested the same day as McMillan, is currently suing him, claiming that Bovel purposefully bashed his head into the seats of a police bus as he was dragged down the aisle.
MORE
And a response to the verdict:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/05/cecily-mcmillan-occupy-guilty-police-violence
Cecily McMillan's guilty verdict reveals our mass acceptance of police violence
Monday 5 May 2014 15.17 EDT
The verdict in the biggest Occupy related criminal case in New York City, that of Cecily McMillan, came down Monday afternoon. As disturbing as it is that she was found guilty of felony assault against Officer Grantley Bovell, the circumstances of her trial reflect an even more disturbing reality that of normalized police violence, disproportionately punitive sentences (McMillan faces seven years in prison), and a criminal penal system based on anything but justice. While this is nothing new for the over-policed communities of New York City, what happened to McMillan reveals just how powerful and unrestrained a massive police force can be in fighting back against the very people with whom it is charged to protect.
McMillan was one of roughly 70 protesters arrested on March 17, 2012. She and hundreds of other activists, along with journalists like me, had gathered in Zuccotti Park to mark the six-month anniversary of the start of Occupy Wall Street. It was four months after the New York Police Department had evicted the Occupy encampment from the park in a mass of violent arrests.
When the police moved in to the park that night, in formation and with batons, to arrest a massive number of nonviolent protesters, the chaos was terrifying. Bovell claimed that McMillan elbowed him in the face as he attempted to arrest her, and McMillan and her defense team claim that Bovell grabbed her right breast from behind, causing her to instinctively react.
But the jury didn't hear anything about the police violence that took place in Zuccotti Park that night. They didn't hear about what happened there on November 15, 2011, when the park was first cleared. The violence experienced by Occupy protesters throughout its entirety was excluded from the courtroom. The narrative that the jury did hear was tightly controlled by what the judge allowed and Judge Ronald Zweibel consistently ruled that any larger context of what was happening around McMillan at the time of the arrest (let alone Bovell's own history of violence) was irrelevant to the scope of the trial.
In the trial, physical evidence was considered suspect but the testimony of the police was cast as infallible. Despite photographs of her bruised body, including her right breast, the prosecution cast doubt upon McMillan's allegations of being injured by the police all while Officer Bovell repeatedly identified the wrong eye when testifying as to how McMillan injured him. And not only was Officer Bovell's documented history of violent behavior deemed irrelevant by the judge, but so were the allegations of his violent behavior that very same night.
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Evasporque
(2,133 posts)Anyone caught striking an officer's baton with their head or obstructing rubber bullets will be dealt with beyond the highest extent of the law.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)Here is the Marine who held the pigs with bloated, municipality bankrupting pensions back
The Wizard
(12,545 posts)would embarrass Himmler.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)Go into retirement/hiding. Stop spending your money and making problems for Democrats. The little dictator has been been nothing but trouble.
TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)with the cops just standing there not responding to his lengthy and loud outburst. I couldn't stand to listen to him anymore after getting most of the way through the video. No idea what he was talking about with these officers supposedly hurting people - nothing about that is in the video.
You certainly could have picked a video that actually showed cops being aggressive with the protesters (which there are plenty) rather than this one that shows them doing what they're supposed to in not responding at all to him though he gets more and more irate and in their faces yelling the same things over and over again. Frankly, he came off as a loony losing control while the cops just calmly stood there letting him.
otohara
(24,135 posts)and nobody gets arrested.
Occupy Rural needs to be armed with guns
mikeysnot
(4,756 posts)fox "news" would call her a hero...
christx30
(6,241 posts)the government to back down. Peaceful protestors on a sidewalk get blasted with pepper spray and arrested. Guess we know which way to go next time.
warrprayer
(4,734 posts)Last edited Tue May 6, 2014, 04:18 PM - Edit history (1)
TBF
(32,056 posts)the Patriot Act was passed. The people are finally getting a clue ...
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)of bankruptcy laws in the mid 70s and Nixon's trip to China, which precipitated the slow death or organized labor. It accelerated with the election of Ronald Reagan and the beginning of financial deregulation. It was unleashed with the collapse of the Soviet Union, NAFTA and Clinton's financial deregulation, legitimized with the illegitimate anointing of GW Bush. It was stamped in stone with the seal of the ruling class after 9-11 and the second bankruptcy reform act under Hillary Clinton. The Iraq war and massive police violence against OWS were just manifestations of the new world order. Washington and Wall Street rule the country and Wall Street rules Washington. Unless there's another political term for it of which I'm unfamiliar, then yes, it is fascism.
freebrew
(1,917 posts)People's Park, Chicago, Kent State, etc.
Peaceful protest in America will always be beaten down by the PTB.
As for the NYPD, let them have a taste of what they're protecting: disband their union.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)That asswipe Bundy and his thugs actually point weapons at Federal agents and NADA. But dare to stand up to the bankers, and it's YEARS for you.
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)...but we aren't living in a police state...m'kay?
red dog 1
(27,797 posts)When is the last time a cop was found guilty of using excessive force against a non-violent protester?
(I'm not implying that Cecily McMillan was a non-violent protester)
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)--the American justice system does not work very well. They are using this woman as a scapegoat.
"The violence experienced by Occupy protestors was excluded from the courtroom" = no chance.
---------------
The Nation story is currently offline.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Even though he didn't win.
The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)The jury should be ashamed.
The police officer should be doing time for sexual assault.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)jury has spoken." I would add that the jury did not see all of the evidence that should have been allowed, such as the assault charge on the officer that same night (goes to state of mind).
The biggest issue I have outside of this trial is, what does the right to peaceably assemble mean now, in light of Occupy? They ran the protestors around and around, making up the rules as they went along and did not allow them to stay and protest.
Wolf-PAC.com!
Joe Shlabotnik
(5,604 posts)The trial should have been moved to different location. http://www.democraticunderground.com/12529529
Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)90-percent
(6,829 posts)I haven't studied this case much, but I've had an awareness of Occupy for a while, as I see it as one hope to right this straight to full blown fascism ship.
And it is utterly remarkable how naked the actions of the PTB really are - open carry at an Obama speech - no problem. We must respect Second Amendment rights.
This young woman, just starting on her road as a responsible adult, was doing her duty as an American Citizen to peaceably assemble and protest. Notice I said it was her DUTY, and not merely exercising a formally protected constitutional Right. And the heinous PTB's are hanging SEVEN YEARS OF PRISON over her head! This is a young woman trying to do the right thing and my government is trying to ruin her life to make an example for anybody else that wants to exercise their former constitutional Rights
The injustice is staggering and it just shows you how much of a TOTALITARIAN FASCIST POLICE STATE our country has become.
For the state to threaten this young woman with a forfeiture of seven years of freedom, plus all the other crap they hang on felons for the rest of their lives, is simply medieval and draconian and cruel. Our Institutions are run by mean selfish corrupt cruel sociopaths.
I wouldn't even want this to happen to an ignorant gun toting tea bagger! And if there was some form of justice left in America, the 'bagger's should have been driven away in paddy wagons in droves for their behavior since they were co-opted by the Koch's. If they were to be held to the same legal measure as this poor unfortunate young woman.
-90% Jimmy
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Skeeter Barnes
(994 posts)navarth
(5,927 posts)NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)2banon
(7,321 posts)NYPD make the Stasi look like angelic peace keepers. Wonder what kind of coverage the story was given in NYC?
damnedifIknow
(3,183 posts)Elbow a cop and it's prison for you.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)The Militia grows stronger.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)Not surprisingly, the answer is "YES" by most metrics,
and at least NOW some are speaking out and calling IT exactly what IT is.
...but if we just vote for Hillary, the ONLY candidate more conservative than Obama in 2008, everything will be just peachy.
[font size=3]If you Work for a Living,
Hold on to your Memories,
because we're TAKING everything else!
Hahahahahahahaha!
[/font]
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)In order to provide a situation of intimidation to the jury while they heard the testimony...
Were they uniformed?
Were they there voluntarily?
Or coerced by their precincts to provide their support...
The judge should have disallowed this from the onset of the trial.
mountain grammy
(26,619 posts)this is an outrageous verdict. Facing 7 years for elbowing a cop? There must be a reaction to this verdict and, I hope, an appeal.
dgauss
(882 posts)The punitive nature of our culture is extreme and out of balance. We've become desensitized to the destruction of the lives of those without money and power and fearful of holding to account anyone with money, power or status.
GReedDiamond
(5,311 posts)...get away with defying Federal Authorities using the direct threat of armed warfare, while, previously, an Occupy protester was sexually/physically abused by a cop.
She defended herself against the molesting cop, and as a result, she's railroaded on a criminal charge and is now facing a 7 year prison sentence.
Absolutely shameful and criminal, what goes on here these days, in all of the wrong ways.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)The cop should be registered as a sex offender. They don't teach them to control people by squeezing their breasts.
Sylvan1
(7 posts)...they could deliver verdicts that were actually just. Most judges tell juries that they can only decide if someone has broken a law, not if the law is just. This is simply not true. Even if a defendant committed a crime, a jury can refuse to render a guilty verdict.
Reasons for a jury to do this, according to attorney Clay S. Conrad:
"When the defendant has already suffered enough, when it would be unfair or against the public interest for the defendant to be convicted, when the jury disagrees with the law itself, when the prosecution or the arresting authorities have gone too far in the single-minded quest to arrest and convict a particular defendant, when the punishments to be imposed are excessive or when the jury suspects that the charges have been brought for political reasons or to make an unfair example of the hapless defendant
"
Up to the time of the Civil War, American juries often refused to convict the brave souls who helped runaway slaves. In the 1800s, jury nullifications saved the hides of union organizers who were being prosecuted with conspiracy to restrain trade. Juries used their power to free people charged under the anti-alcohol laws of Prohibition, as well as antiwar protesters during the Vietnam era. Today, juries sometimes refuse to convict drug users (especially medical marijuana users), tax protesters, abortion protesters, gun owners, battered spouses, and people who commit mercy killings.
Judges and prosecutors will often outright lie about the existence of this power, but centuries of court decisions and other evidence prove that jurors can vote their consciences.
When the US Constitution was created, with its Sixth Amendment guarantee of a jury trial, the most popular law dictionary of the time said that juries may not only find things of their own knowledge, but they go according to their consciences. The first edition of Noah Websters celebrated dictionary (1828) said that juries decide both the law and the fact in criminal prosecutions.
If the average citizen were aware that juries are the peoples' defense against tyranny, they would behave with more autonomy and we would have fewer unjust verdicts and sentences.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)this shit would stop.
This young lady was (as said previously) doing her duty as a citizen of America.
The LEO's and "justice system" abused her right and obligation to protest extreme injustices in the existing system.
Not "our" system.
GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)Grab a booby for free, and send the protester to jail as a bonus.
GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)welfare queens nervous from the beginning.
christx30
(6,241 posts)she gets 7 years. Cops in California beat Kelly Thomas to death and they get nothing. There's the American justice system for you.
No wonder people don't trust it.
CrispyQ
(36,461 posts)"We can fuck you & we will."
riqster
(13,986 posts)The establishment doesn't spend this much time and money on things that it does not perceive as threats.