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An activist wins appeal of protest convictions 05/05/01 - by Linda Harris - Philadelphia Inquirer AIDS activist Terrence McGuckin, held in jail a week on $500,000 bail during last summer's Republican National Convention and characterized by police as a ringleader of illegal protests, yesterday won his appeal of two misdemeanor convictions related to his arrest. McGuckin's triumph further trimmed the paltry number of successful court cases - about two dozen - involving charges made during 400 arrests Aug. 1, the most tumultuous day of protest during the convention. "I hope that through all these cases, the city has learned something," McGuckin, 20, of West Philadelphia, said yesterday. "The next time, maybe they will be a little more careful about who they arrest." Common Pleas Court Judge Gary S. Glazer overturned McGuckin's convictions without calling in a jury that was waiting to hear the appeal. Municipal Court Judge Lydia Y. Kirkland, in a nonjury trial in November, convicted McGuckin of disorderly conduct and obstructing the highway. During that trial, a police detective visiting from Washington testified that McGuckin had led a band of protesters to block an intersection near the Convention Center. Yesterday, attorney David Rudovsky produced in court a videotape that showed that McGuckin was participating at another protest site at the time the detective had placed McGuckin at 12th and Arch Streets. The videotape showed him at a demonstration at 16th and Callowhill Streets. "We could show that he was close to a mile away," Rudovsky said. "The acquittal of Mr. McGuckin is a damning indictment of the Police Department and of the District Attorney's Office," Rudovsky said, "as it showed that Mr. McGuckin did nothing illegal during the Republican convention and that the arrest and detention under $500,000 bail was done simply to punish and incarcerate him for his political views." Assistant District Attorney David E. Desiderio said that he disagreed with the ruling but added that "a judge's ruling is a judge's ruling." McGuckin had been charged with a string of misdemeanors and spent a week in jail until his bail was reduced to $100,000. |
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