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 Charges dropped against 5 in GOP rally 10/31/00 - by Linda K. Harris - Philadelphia Inquirer A Municipal Court judge threw out misdemeanor charges against five protesters arrested during the Republican National Convention after defense lawyers successfully argued that the defendants had been arrested because they conveyed an unpopular message. Yesterday's cases involved a July 31 protest against the Army's School of the Americas near Fort Benning, Ga. The protest was held in front of City Hall. During the protest, demonstrators lay in the street to symbolize people who were murdered by dictators in Latin America. "I thought those people were extremely peaceful in what they were doing," said Municipal Court Judge James M. DeLeon after issuing his written opinion. The five defendants had refused the district attorney's offer of accelerated rehabilitation, which would have required them to pay a fine and complete six months of probation before their records were cleared. They were scheduled for trial in December. The motion to dismiss the charges on the grounds of selective prosecution was argued Thursday before DeLeon by Karl Baker of the Defender Association of Philadelphia. The Defender Association's motion, filed to address all of the protesters' cases, also raises accusations of prior restraint of free speech and destruction of exculpatory evidence. Baker said those two issues were particularly relevant to the 75 arrests inside the warehouse at 4100 Haverford Ave., the so-called puppet warehouse. Motions on those cases will be heard Nov. 28. Motions for the people who were stopped and arrested from a van driven by an undercover state police officer will be heard Nov. 21. Baker last week presented a parade of witnesses before Judge DeLeon. A key witness was Philadelphia Police Officer Van Buren Brown, who was one of the officers assigned to keep an eye on a rally Aug. 1 calling for the immediate use of the death penalty against Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Brown said 300 to 400 people blocked about two blocks near Seventh and Federal Streets, near Geno's steaks. Brown told the court that the rally lasted about three hours. He also said that the rally was held without a permit, that no one was arrested, and that police did not ask the crowd to move. Baker showed a videotape of news clips from the rally, where the streets were jammed by people carrying posters honoring the slain officer. Another witness that DeLeon cited in his written opinion was Thomas Paine Cronin, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 47, the city's white-collar union. Cronin said his union has participated in many street-blocking protests that resulted in no arrests. |
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