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 Dropping Like Flies 11/16/00 - by Gwen Shaffer - City Paper In a victory for protesters arrested during the Republican National Convention, the District Attorney withdrew its case Tuesday against John Sellers, a demonstrator charged with acting as a "ringleader" of mass demonstrations and initially held on $1 million bail. Another defendant, Terrence McGuckin, was found guilty Tuesday of disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway. The judge threw out a smattering of other misdemeanors filed against him by the District Attorney. McGuckin's attorney, David Rudovsky, plans to appeal the conviction. McGuckin also received a precedent-setting bail of $500,000 when he was picked up by police Aug. 1, and accused of orchestrating a blockade at the intersection at 13th and Arch Streets. Some characterized the sky-high bails as a ploy by the city to keep key activists locked up until the RNC ended, and even prevent them from traveling to Los Angeles for the Democratic convention. When Sellers, 33, showed up for trial Tuesday, he was told that the Philadelphia District Attorney's office was withdrawing its case against him. Sellers, director of a California-based group called the Ruckus Society that trains activists in nonviolent civil disobedience, faced 14 misdemeanor charges. Sellers said he feels "vindicated" as a result of his charges being dismissed. "Law enforcement was looking to target people they viewed as ringleaders. They were looking to cut off the head of a movement that has no head." Municipal Court Judge Lydia Kirkland found McGuckin, 19, guilty of obstructing a highway and disorderly conduct. Washington police detective Angelo Parisi was the sole witness to testify on behalf of the prosecution. He acted as an "observer" during the RNC, tagging along with officers from the Philadelphia Police Department. Parisi testified to watching McGuckin talk on a cell phone while he led a crowd of about a dozen people down Arch Street on the afternoon of Aug. 1. "When he moved, the crowd moved," Parisi said. "When he stopped, the crowd stopped." Parisi said something "significant" appeared to be happening when McGuckin crouched down on one knee and the group crowded around him. Parisi testified that he did not hear a word uttered by McGuckin. And although he was holding a video camera, Parisi testified he was unable to capture McGuckin leading the group of would-be demonstrators because either McGuckin was moving too quickly or the camera wouldn't focus quickly enough. "I tried on several occasions to take his picture, but the circumstances were not right," he said. Ultimately, the group met up with other demonstrators who were plopped down at 13th and Arch. They linked arms and blocked the intersection for about 25 minutes, until police ordered everyone to disperse. McGuckin did not participate in the blockade, Parisi said. Assistant District Attorney David Desiderio played 10 minutes of a video taken during the demonstration. It showed protesters sitting in the intersection and chanting. McGuckin never appeared in the footage. Under cross-examination, Rudovsky argued that the prosecution's case was based on "pure speculation." Based on the evidence introduced, he noted, McGuckin could have been on the cell phone advising fellow activists "to engage in peaceful protest." "All you've heard from the Commonwealth is that Mr. McGuckin was with a group of people. Nothing he did was illegal. Nothing he said was heard. He didn't sit down, block traffic or engage in disorderly conduct," Rudovsky pointed out. But Desiderio countered by arguing that "common sense" tells you McGuckin's actions — talking on a cell phone and pointing a crowd toward the demonstration — were illegal. "There shouldn't be any doubt he was leading this line of people. Where he walked, they walked," Desiderio said, stressing that McGuckin "coordinated" an act of civil disobedience. The judge found McGuckin guilty of disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway, and sentenced him to three months probation. After the trial, Desiderio characterized Kirkland's ruling as "fair." Rudovsky predicted a jury will find McGuckin "100 percent innocent." "The Commonwealth miserably failed to prove its case," Rudovsky added. "This is a group that doesn't need direction. The entire theory that someone has to direct people how to protest doesn't match with reality." |
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