 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Jury finds Phila. activist guilty of one misdemeanor 03/13/01 - by Linda Harris and Craig McCoy - Philadelphia Inquirer After a three-day trial in which a jury deliberated for five hours, activist Kathleen Sorensen, the million-dollar woman of the Republican convention protests, yesterday was acquitted of three felonies and found guilty of a single misdemeanor. Sorensen was arrested Aug. 1 during protests that occurred throughout the city that day. Held in jail for 10 days with bail set at $1 million, she was originally charged with 20 crimes, but most charges were dismissed before trial. Yesterday, a Common Pleas Court jury of nine women and three men found her not guilty of riot, risking a catastrophe, and conspiracy, all felonies, but convicted her of misdemeanor criminal mischief. Sorensen, who stood next to her lawyer, Lawrence S. Krasner, as the jury forewoman read the verdict, took the stand during the trial and said she had protested with pride during the Republican National Convention but had not broken the law in doing so. Krasner said they would appeal. Sentencing has been set for April 27 at 9:30 a.m. Judicial guidelines call for probation, Krasner said, but Assistant District Attorney David E. Desiderio said the maximum sentence was five years in jail. Sorensen, 38, of West Philadelphia, a longtime AIDS activist, was one of three protesters characterized by authorities as ringleaders after their arrests. Charges for another demonstrator held on $1 million bail, John Sellers, were withdrawn before trial after prosecutors admitted they had no case. The third person, Terrence McGuckin, was convicted of protest-related misdemeanors in Municipal Court and is awaiting retrial in Common Pleas Court. In all, almost 400 protesters were arrested during the convention, but the prosecutions have resulted in only about two dozen convictions, all for misdemeanors. Desiderio said he thought the verdict was fair, adding: "As well-intended as her cause is, she did cross the line." During opening statements Thursday, Desiderio told the jury that Sorensen had been a leader of a crowd of up to 700 demonstrators during the afternoon of Aug. 1. He said she was to blame for vandalism by many in the crowd, including the spray-painting of walls and police cars and the tipping over of Dumpsters in the street and setting their contents on fire. Police officers who took the stand testified that Sorensen appeared to be a leader of the protests, often walking at the head of a group of demonstrators and talking "continually" on a cell phone. The officers acknowledged that they never saw Sorensen herself destroy property or block a street. At one point, they said, they heard her say, " 'We have this corner. Take that corner' " -- a remark prosecutors interpreted as an order for a street blockade. During her two hours on the stand Friday, Sorensen said that her remark about the corner was intended to urge people to move out of the street. As for the cell phone, she said she had used it to get updates from other demonstrators. "My purpose was to let people know what was happening throughout the city," she said. "I was not a leader. I didn't have a group with me. I was jogging. Even as I was jogging, I had a cell phone to my ear, listening to what was going on. I had no intention of leading. I had no intention of getting arrested." Sorensen said she had organized a successful health-care march July 29, the Saturday before the convention began, but was working only as an observer Aug. 1. After the trial ended yesterday, Sorensen said that she was disappointed she had been found guilty of the misdemeanor criminal-mischief charge, but that she was eager to return to her work. Krasner said he believed there was grounds for an appeal based on lack of evidence. Throughout the trial, the courtroom was packed with 30 to 40 activists each day, and yesterday about two dozen waited in the hall as the jury deliberated. Linda Harris' e-mail address is lharris@phillynews.com. |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fair Use Notice of copyrighted material contained in this website.