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Two more RNC protesters acquitted

Photo by Mysti Strege

March 19, 2009
Two more protesters were found not guilty Thursday in St. Paul after a four-day jury trial. Ilana M. Radovsky and Gracia Logue-Sargeant were arrested on September 1, the first day of the RNC, at Seventh and Jackson in downtown St. Paul. (That's the same place where Democracy Now producers were arrested.) They were charged with parading without a permit, disorderly conduct, and unlawful assembly. Judge Michael Fetsch dismissed the parading charges, and the jury found them not guilty of the other two counts.

In January, charges against seven other RNC defendants were dismissed at the end of the prosecution's case, with the judge finding that there was not enough evidence to send the case to a jury. No defendants have been convicted after trial.

City Attorney John Choi has decided not to prosecute in the cases of hundreds of those arrested during the RNC, but many misdemeanor cases are still pending and the trial of Sean McCoy on misdemeanor charges of parading without a permit and fleeing a police officer is now going on. Some defendants have pleaded guilty. Attorney Bruce Nestor said that the two people acquitted on Thursday were offered deals for guilty pleas that would have resulted in no penalties, but that they refused to plead guilty.

"In terms of the unlawful assembly, the riots, all of the misdemeanors," said Nestor, "they have a claim to be protesters, just caught up in mass arrests."

Attorneys with the National Lawyers Guild urged St. Paul City Attorney John Choi to dismiss the remaining unlawful assembly charges.

Mary Turck's picture
Mary Turck

Mary Tuck is the editor of the TC Daily Planet.

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RNC Human Destruction

2 have been convicted (deals???) 2 acquitted. What about the 800 false arrests that have destroyed innocent peoples lives. Arrest record, place on the Homeland Security and other Federal police agencies target lists. No fly lists. Pain and indignation. The criminals who directed and the roundup and the cops who mindlessly obeyed suffer no consequences.

Why is it against the law

Why is it against the law to "flee" a police officer if you are not guilty of any crimes? Is it against the law to run the other direction from any police officer for any reason?

justice prevails.

freedom of speech, remember that folks? it was in all the papers a while back.

Tyranny by law enforcement

Yes law enforcement do not work for we the people anymore! They are jack booted thugs... especially the Feds... they have no heart and soul just like the infamous German SS . There are 1,000,000 people and 25,000 new name add each month to the no fly list... enemies of the State like peace activists, anti war activists, people active in the Patriot and militia movements and small religious groups! And you thought Homeland Security was to keep us safe from those extremist Muslims! Homeland Security was never there for the people security... it was created to keep the Elite secure from you and we the people! At the RNC they rounded up reporters that like the SS did to the Jews in German with trumped up charges. And they are called law enforcers what a joke! I'm a very ex Republican. I know now the Elite uses the left right paradigm to make us feel we make a difference but they own both sides! You loose every time and the Elite advance there global agenda! Bush 41 = Globalist Clinton = Internationalist Bush 43 = Globalist Obama = Internationalist

Bush-Cheney pushed Police tactics. We must prosecute them!

. Examples have to be made of the Bush officials who abused their power. Someone said "It's always unfortunate...when examples have to be made of public officials who abuse their position." We agree. If we as a people hope to force our public officials to obey our laws and our Constitution, the time is Now and the way to do it is to prosecute members of the Bush administration who violated Federal Laws, including the law against Torturing prisoners. The reason that we continue to have unnecessary wars of choice is that our Congress makes excuses for lawbreaking officials instead of impeaching or prosecuting them. There was no doubt that 9-11, like Pearl Harbor, needed to be avenged, but Bush had another agenda. Bush, Cheney, & appointees lied about WMD, aluminum tubes, & Niger Uranium to con Congress into approving an invasion of Iraq, a country that did not have anything to do with 9-11. In WW-II, in 4 years, FDR put 13,000,000 men in the fight, beat 3 dictatorships, their leaders dead at the end. After 7 years of War On Terror, neither Bush nor Cheney could find Osama Bin Laden, our US reputation is in the gutter, we're still at war, over 4,200 US Soldiers are dead, over 30,000 maimed for the Bush-Cheney arrogance & lies. They ordered Torture, a violation of Federal Law. Unless Obama's statement that “no one is above the law” is a lie, Obama must appoint a Special Prosecutor for Bush, Cheney and the appointee lawyers that advocated Torture, violated many Federal Laws, our Constitution & the Geneva Convention on Torture. Sign The Petition To Prosecute http://ANGRYVoters.org .

It is worse than it looks

The worst and most troubling aspect of this was the agreement the city made with the RNC; whereby, the RNC would indemnify the police for their actions. This, essentially, made the police the private security force for the RNC. It also 'liberated' the police from behaving civil or legally since the RNC would shoulder the costs, not the city. And, it permitted the police to act pre-emptively, denying people their civil rights.

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