Friday, October 24, 2008

DNC protest arrests go to trial

Of the first nine cases, seven were dropped, one ended in a hung jury, and one was thrown out. The Post:
In the nine cases, like many of the others, police and prosecutors were unable to make specific allegations about what each defendant did. Instead, during the trials of Bryson Smith, Eli Hardy and Tiffany Bray this week — all charged with blocking a passageway — prosecutors simply alleged that they were protesters who disobeyed police orders to disperse.
Not exactly surprising. Expect some crowing from Spagz, et. al. And maybe some lawsuits:
But attorney David Lane, who represents several of the accused protesters in possible civil suits, said the city's insistence on taking weak cases to trial is only going to make it harder on them when the lawsuits follow.

"If they continue to lose cases, they are going to be looking at a lot of civil suits," he said.

"Taxpayers in Denver should ask themselves why are police arresting people without probable cause and why is the city spending all this money prosecuting people when they don't have enough evidence to convict?"
Because they can't just let protesters get away with breaking the law? In any case, whatever those lawsuits might cost, it'll be worth it to have kept the kiddies' tantrums in check.

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