Colorado
Suit filed over mass arrest during DNC
Eight people who were arrested on the second day of the Democratic National Convention during a mass protest filed a lawsuit against the City and County of Denver last night alleging wrongful arrest.
The plaintiffs who filed their case in Denver District Court – are represented by lawyers for the ACLU of Colorado and include a legal observer for the People’s Law Project, a journalist, students documenting the protest and onlookers along 15th Street and Cleveland Place on Aug. 25.
In addition, the lawsuit is seeking class-action status for nearly 100 people who were held at a special jail, dubbed “Gitmo on the Platte” and claim they were denied access to attorneys who came to provide advice.
Denver police have said they were trying to control the crowd moving from Civic Center. The officers testified in court that they had intelligence that anarchists planned to gather in the park, then move toward the 16th Street Mall to wreak havoc at delegate hotels and other businesses. The activists had posted that plan on a publicly available website.
“With regard to policing protest during the DNC, Denver police sometimes got it very right, for which they deserve credit,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. “On this evening, however, Denver police got it wrong, very wrong. Although Denver often allows street marches to proceed without the required permit, the police chose to crack down on this one. But police failed to distinguish between street marchers and others who were participating or merely observing from the sidewalks, where they had a legal right to be. If there is a case where a large and potentially raucous public gathering threatens to get out of hand, police can issue orders to disperse and clear the area, but no such order was issued that night.”
Police ultimately arrested 106 people, the highest number of arrests in a single day during the convention.
Silverstein said that of the 54 persons who did not accept an immediate plea bargain for their charges, at least 38 were exonerated after jury trials or after prosecutors dismissed charges.
So there’s no financial punishment and he only has to give back the EXACT amount of additional profit he made using insider trading, and not the balance of his profits or any penalty? If that’s the case it’s no wonder people commit white collar crime, as his current punishment is only 6 years for stealing 1.8 million dollars. One year in prison for every $300K he stole, and the appeals court believes that’s too harsh a penalty? Are we to believe that Nacchio had a SMALLER impact on society, hurt fewer families and cost the larger community less money, than some small time drug dealer who would go away for decades after being busted for $1.8M in drug sales (and who would have to give back ALL his profit)? As others have said, apaprently there’s little penalty in this country for stealing large sums of money if you’re already rich and don’t really need it, but much larger consequences if you are a poor administrator and embezzle the same amount (and can’t afford to have a team of well-connected lawyers fight for you for years on end). Well, I guess as long as we’re third rate when it comes to health care, eductaion, etc., we shuoldn’t be too surprised to find we’re now a third world country and have a two-tiered system when it comes to our government and courts, too: A wonderfully exclusive political, healthcare, legal and tax system for wealthy individuals and corporations, and a draconian and punative system for the other 90% of us. You go OJ, um, I mean Joe!
We’re supposed to forgive. It may be hard, but we’re supposed to anyway.
Allowing the money to be re-”acquired” is yet another thing.
I’m still having trouble with the forgive part.
A thief is a thief…is a thief…is a thief is a thief…is a thief…is a thief is a thief…is a thief…is a thief etc.
Would I cool my jets in a jail cell if I knew that my lawyers would get me out early and a lot of cash would just be waiting for me?
Don’t even ask me to apply this to Bernie?,,,,,,,,,,,,,!
and what happens to you and I who can’t afford to pay these kinds of attorneys?
One guess! wbc