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 Puppet Payback 02/01/01 - by Gwen Shaffer - City Paper The owner of a West Philadelphia warehouse used by political activists to make puppets during the Republican convention is suing the city of Philadelphia in federal court. Michael Graves' complaint charges that he was wrongfully arrested, detained and prosecuted. He also claims that his property was seized and destroyed in violation of constitutional rights. Philadelphia Mayor John Street, Police Commissioner John Timoney and Deputy Commissioner Robert Mitchell are all named as defendants in the lawsuit. Graves and his wife, Susan Ciccantelli, are seeking "unspecified damages." The couple owns a warehouse at 4100 Haverford Ave., which they leased to activists in July. During the week leading up to the Republican National Convention, hundreds of activists stopped by the warehouse to build giant puppets, banners, a float and other props. They planned to use these "messages of dissent" — urging campaign finance reform, environmental protection, an end to the death penalty and other policy reforms — to make a point during demonstrations throughout the city. Graves was arrested in the warehouse Aug. 1, along with 75 other people. Everyone was charged with possessing instruments of crime, recklessly endangering another person, obstructing justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and disorderly conduct. Graves was jailed in the Roundhouse for four days before he was arraigned and allowed to post bail. On Nov. 29, the Philadelphia District Attorney's office dropped all charges against Graves. Several days later, state troopers who infiltrated Graves' warehouse back in July failed to identify the vast majority of defendants. Their cases were then dropped for lack of evidence. "An undercover state trooper testified that Michael Graves was not involved — in activities protected by the First Amendment or otherwise," says Paul Messing, a civil rights attorney representing Graves. "There is a very compelling question as to why people engaged in political protest were held until the last day of the convention." Graves uses the warehouse as an office for his hardwood floor refinishing business. Messing says that city officials damaged and destroyed his client's property, caused him to lose contracts and prevented him from working while he was locked up. The ordeal cost him thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees. "...I had to spend thousands of dollars and had to go through all this aggravation, and they finally dropped the charges," says Graves, whose lawsuit characterizes his arrest as "preventive detention." The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Norma Shapiro. The city has 20 days to respond to the complaint. Also related to arrests made during the RNC, two large groups of defendants were exonerated of charges last month. On Jan. 19, Judge Seamus McCaffery acquitted a dozen activists arrested for blocking an intersection at 16th and Callowill Streets on Aug. 1. The judge declared that the demonstrators were simply exercising their First Amendment rights. And on Jan. 25, the District Attorney withdrew charges against another 17 demonstrators arrested for blocking the intersection at 15th and JFK Boulevard on Aug. 1. The prosecution pressed ahead with its case against three other defendants in that case. In court, the prosecution played a videotape that clearly showed them sitting in the street and chanting. But McCaffery found the three not guilty. In announcing his verdict, the judge commented that just because law enforcement may disagree with the content of political speech, it isn't unlawful. On Jan. 16, RNC defendants asked McCaffery — a former police officer who has publicly made pejorative statements about political protesters — to recuse himself from presiding over future RNC-related cases. Obviously, McCaffery declined to do so, but has not convicted a single defendant since that recusal motion was filed. Of the more than 300 RNC cases already resolved, just 13 have resulted in convictions. |
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