Dozens of protesters arrested during Occupy Portland marches are filling Oregon courtrooms, vowing to stick out a tough fight over their First Amendment rights, which they say were violated when the protesters were charged with various misdemeanors. Prosecutors have called for the dismissal of the more serious charges in order to clear the court calendar, but some of the protesters have asked a judge not to allow the dismissal. They want a jury trial to prove they were well within their rights to protest peacefully.
If the judge allows the offenses to be prosecuted as Class C misdemeanors, they would be treated like traffic violations, quickly processed with a fine if the protesters are found guilty. But the defendants want their arguments heard and decided by a jury. Their attorneys want all official city memos and meeting notes from planning sessions with police from before the arrests, which may be the only evidence the city would be able to offer in a jury trial.
One of the attorneys also wants to know where the authority came from when protesters were arrested in the middle of the day at a place where the Occupy Protest demonstrators had set up camp. His client was arrested under an ordinance that says police and city officials have the power to close a park at any time of day or night. It's a law the attorney says has some major constitutional problems.
As all of these protesters occupy courtrooms, demanding to be heard and not simply dismissed, the misdemeanor court dockets are growing to an unmanageable degree. The Occupy protester attorney says the bottleneck is amounting to a standoff that's put pressure on judges. It should also send a message to the district attorney's office, he said, to either dismiss the charges or not bring them in the first place.
Although the Occupy movement was intended to draw attention to social and economic inequality, it's also raised awareness of everyone's constitutional right to free speech.
Source: KATU.com, "Protesters 'occupy' court to argue for free-speech rights," Thom Jensen, April 3, 2012
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