Fitful start for Occupy Atlanta trial
2:35 pm, December 17th, 2012
Atlanta Police officers spent Monday morning herding dozens of Occupy Atlanta protesters and their supporters outside the Municipal Court courtroom where the trial for about 80 demonstrators arrested last year is slowly cranking up.
Municipal Court Chief Judge Crystal Gaines has barred anyone but the protesters and their lawyers from her courtroom, so police officers shooed the news media and the rest of the crowd into an overflow courtroom next door where a monitor streamed video from Gaines’ courtroom.
There was little to see: Gaines herself made no appearance in the morning, huddling in chambers with some of the cadre of lawyers representing the demonstrators. Eventually, Davis Boazman partner Mawuli Davis emerged to say court would reconvene at 2 o’clock and that anyone who might choose to enter a guilty plea could do so at that time. Then she will hear arguments on some of outstanding motions, and the trial itself will start Tuesday morning.
At least one person has entered a guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge, according to State Rep. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, who is himself among the arrestees. Another protester said Gaines agreed to drop the charges if the arrestee was not re-arrested for one year.
The largest group of defendants was arrested on the night of October 25, 2011 when Mayor Kasim Reed rescinded an executive order allowing them to remain in Woodruff Park overnight. More than 50 people were arrested when police swept in to clear the park at Reed’s order.
A group of the protesters and their supporters took the break the action on Monday as an opportunity to march to nearby Atlanta City Hall and “say ‘hi’ to Kasim.”
edCanvas = document.getElementById(‘content’);
Contributor: Greg Land in Fulton courts | subscribe to rss | 
share
December 19th, 2012 at 4:46 am
I am one of the protesters that Occupied Mayor Kasim Reed’s lobby seeking redress. King Reed’s Royal Order befits a monarchical rather than a Mayoral act. There’s the untold side to this story.
How about Real Estate law? Ever check up on OCGA Section 44? How about the definition of an at-will tenancy? How about Obstruction of Process, which is illegal, on the part of an officious intermeddler? And what of the utilities shut-off since we were effectively residing there, enjoying the full use of the property?
What do you think? Wrong venue? Wrong Subject Matter? I know what *my* opinion is – we’re innocent of the moot charges on the basis of a conflict at law, especially since even Kasim Reed, a former lawyer, conducted what appears to me to walk, swim, and quack like an eviction under the Self-Help (and illegal under OCGA) category – wherefore, this issue is in likely one directly of the First Amendment – and this issue is now a Federal question that screams “Lawsuit!”
Political prisoners exist in this country, and for so long that my case is in this Court, the Court has me in its grasp for my political speech.
December 19th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Any UCC violations? Was there an admiralty flag present? I need more information.
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:46 pm
Not sure what an Admiralty flag *is* but I do know that there was a veteran with a HUGE American flag present for arrest who had several other people secure him to a tree.
And one of the park managers STOLE a flag until several other angry protesters forced him by guilt to return the flag.
As for UCC, who knows? The City cut the power to the park and sprayed us with the water sprayers for the “lawn” area, which they did not have to do. We put buckets over the sprayers and guess what – the sprayers broke :/ NOT our fault – we were merely defending ourselves from assault by water.