Lake Minnetonka Liberty

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Tag Archives: Legal Battle

Occupying the Cleveland taxpayer’s wallet

From the Cleveland Scene

Cleveland Municipal Court is having trouble obeying its own procedural rules — at least when it comes to Occupy Cleveland protesters.

Ten Occupy members are making their way through the court after being arrested in unison on the night of October 21. All were charged with the same $100 minor misdemeanors: curfew violations (for being on Public Square after 10 p.m.) and criminal trespassing (also for being on Public Square after hours). Nine were also charged with resisting arrest, a slightly more serious misdemeanor.

Court rules state that multiple people charged with the same crimes arising from the same incident will be assigned to the same judge and consolidated into one case for the sake of efficiency. But the 10 Occupy Cleveland cases have been divvied up between seven different judges, and the court’s administrative judge, Ronald Adrine, denied a motion made by the protesters’ attorneys to combine them into one.

The court is now scheduling 10 pretrial hearings that could lead to 10 one- or two-day trials with 10 juries and 10 sets of witnesses to be subpoenaed, each requiring the presence of a bailiff, court reporter, and city prosecutor, in addition to a judge.

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Gang injunctions may prevent future OWS crimes

From Big Government

A crime blotter documenting the OWS crime wave is staggering: Rapes and other sex crimes, robberies, drug and alcohol offenses, anti-semitic hate crimes, assaults on cops, and the list goes on. City and state officials can no longer afford to deal with such a scourge by shrugging their shoulders, getting out their checkbooks and telling taxpayers “sorry, but we must protect free speech.”

It’s time for prosecutors to step in and take preemptive action against the OWS urban street gangs. In Los Angeles today, there are 37 gang injunctions covering 57 street gangs and 11,000 gang members. For the past five years, Riverside County, CA prosecutors have put in place numerous injunctions against violent gangs that prohibit gang members from congregating, communicating and “occupying” areas where other known gang members are present. The injunctions have resulted in significant numbers of arrests and an overall reduction in gang-related crime. The injunctions have also passed constitutional muster with Courts of Appeal.

But is OWS a criminal street gang for purposes of an injunction? Legally, the answer appears to be yes.

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Army of occupy lawyers file lawsuits from coast-to-coast

From The Blaze

Although most major Occupy encampments have dispersed, the movement‘s organizers are trying to stay relevant through a flurry of lawsuits in which they are asserting their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly and challenging authorities’ mass arrests and use of force to break up tent cities.

Lawyers representing protesters have filed lawsuits — or are planning them — in state and federal courts from coast to coast, challenging eviction orders and what they call heavy-handed police tactics and the banning of demonstrators from public properties.

Some say the fundamental right of protest has been criminalized in places, with protesters facing arrest and charges while doing nothing more than exercising protected rights to demonstrate.

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Judge dismisses Occupy MN lawsuit

From MPR

A district judge has dismissed OccupyMN’s lawsuit against Hennepin County.
OccupyMN protesters have been demonstrating at the Hennepin County Government Center plaza since October. The group sued the county when it prohibited camping and sleeping on the plaza.

Judge Richard Kyle dismissed the lawsuit, after OccupyMN and the county reached a settlement. As part of the mediated settlement, protesters will be able to recover their tents and personal property that was removed and stored by the county.

Hennepin County officials say the county’s prohibition on tents and camping on county property continues, and will be enforced.

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‘Occupation’ Is not ‘Speech’: Boston and Denver occupiers lose in court

From Big Government
Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre, who was prematurely panned for granting Occupy Boston a temporary reprieve (and for being a Mitt Romney appointee), delivered an elegant decision against the protestors today:
Plaintiffs claim that their occupation of the site and the community they have established thereon are protected by the First Amendment. They seek a preliminary injunction against their removal by the defendants.
But the injunction is denied because, while Occupy Boston protesters may be exercising their expressive rights during the protest, they have no privilege under the First Amendment to seize and hold the land on which they sit…[T]his court seriously doubts that the First Amendment permits the plaintiffs to seize and hold a public forum to the exclusion of others. (1, 15)
Read the rest at http://biggovernment.com/jpollak/2011/12/07/occupation-is-not-speech-occupyboston-occupydenver-lose-in-court/

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