Today, in Brooklyn Criminal Court, disorderly conduct charges against the last seven defendants of 29 arrested nineteen months earlier were dismissed "in the interests of justice."  In two previous trials, judges had dismissed the charges after the prosecution phase.  The judge's written opinion received today also grants defense motion to dismiss on the basis of "facial insufficiency," meaning that the charges, which originally included Obstruction of Government Administration" were not properly filed by the District Attorney.

Some defendants elected to take an "adjournment contemplating dismissal," which is not an admission of guilt, but the twelve people arrested who chose to go to trial all have had charges dropped.  The persistence of these freedom fighters, and their attorneys from the Brooklyn Legal Aid Society, the National Lawyers Guild, New York Law Collective and Brooklyn Defenders was sustained through more than 20 days of appearances, two trials, multiple hearings, and the arrest and jailing of Christina Gonzalez for contempt of court when she righteously objected to an order from a judge who has written a white supremacist book.

Congratulations to defendants Greg Allen, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Fr. Luis Barrios, Randy Credico, Noche Diaz, Carl Dix, Christina Gonzalez, John Hector, Nick Malinowsky, Bob Parsons, Morgan Rhodewalt, and Matt Swaye, and deep thanks to attorneys Noha Momtaz Arafa, Genesis Fisher, Julie Fry, Daniella Korotzer, Elizabeth Latimer, Meagan Maurus, and Marty Stolar,

Another Queens jury didn't accept the District Attorney's argument that protesters committed any crime back in November of 2011 when we marched on the 103rd NYPD Precinct, second in Queens in stop-and-frisks.  To two counts of Obstructing Government Administration, they said, NOT guilty.  But they could not get past the idea that the police ordered people to move -- even if it was not a lawful order -- and convicted Greg, Noche, Ribka and Matt of disorderly conduct, a violation.  They will be sentenced on July 18.

Any time the prosecutors slink out of a courtroom, it's cause for celebration, and we are glad there were no criminals convictions. Attorney Marty Stolar, part of the legal team who defended the freedom figthers, said tonight, "I am satisfied with the verdict but also disappointed. I wanted the whole thing."  There was no lawful order for protesters to be dispersed, and they should not have been convicted.

A most interesting scene developed outside the criminal courts building afterward.  Although one alternate juror declined to speak to us, and another juror said "no comment" as to her thoughts on stop-and-frisk after two weeks of hearing about it, 4 jurors and one alternate hung out for quite awhile with defendants, attorneys, and supporters.  There were hand-shakes and hugs.  They said, as jurors in the last case said, that they were most concerned that our defendants not get any jail time.  "You all are great people!"  They wanted to finally meet the defendants, and attorneys, and learn more background.

Discussing stop-and-frisk outside Queens Criminal Court. Attorney Steve Silverblatt; defendant Ribka Getachew, and attorney Mani Taferi speaking with juror.An older African American man was most outspoken and warmly hugged defendants.  We asked if his opinion of stop-and-frisk had changed, and he said yes.  "I still think it could do some good.  But it's so unfair how only certain groups of people are stopped."  Another juror said the defendants, and our attorneys, were "really interesting, honest people, but we didn't like the police or the District Attorney's attitude."  She said the contempt for the defendants showed by the D.A's alienated the jury, a fact they talked about in deliberations.

The jurors asked to know more about our movement, and got flyers about the Stop Mass Incarceration Network.  All said that the experience of the trial had given them a lot to think about in terms of how the courts and police work.  A very basic question they asked: why did they system spend two weeks trying people for something that was completely non-violent and lawful, when there are real crimes being committed?

There are still five defendants to be tried on these same charges: Elaine Brower, Calvin Barnwell, John Hector, Richie Marini, to be tried Tuesday July 8, and Christina Gonzalez, whose case has been severed and is not yet scheduled for trial.  We have no expectation that the DA will drop the OGA charges.

There is MUCH more to learn from the scene in Queens.  The controversy over stop-and-frisk in the city, particularly the Floyd v City of New York lawsuit in federal court, and the way in which the NYPD's policy has become an issue in the mayoral race -- because it's now more widely seen as a big problem -- affected this trial.  More importantly, it shows how potentially widespread opposition to it could be, and what a responsibility we have to carry forward resistance to this practice, and to mass incarceration, so that even more people see that there is no good reason for the authorities to get away with locking up so many people.

The defense rested Friday May 31 in the case of the Queens District Attorney v Greg Allen, Noche Diaz, Ribka Getachew and Matt Swaye.  Defense attorneys moved for dismissal of both Obstruction of Government Administration and Disorderly Conduct charges on the basis that the DA had not proved there had been an government business disrupted by the protesters.  They argued that the NYPD, by barricading a city block had put the public at an inconvenience for what they claimed to know would be a non-violent protest.

In a development unusual so far in these proceedings, the judge did not immediately deny the motion regarding the OGA charges.  He said he is "holding in in abeyance" until the jury makes its decision on guilt.  He denied the motion concerning disorderly conduct charges.

Closing arguments Friday afternoon by defense attorneys Marty Stolar, Daria Aumond, Tom Hilgardner and Mani Taferi visited -- as much as allowed by the judge -- the reason the protest in November 2011 focused on the 103rd Precinct to deliver a political message against NYPD stop-and-frisk. Asst District Attorney Heyman pointed to "these four defendants" 34 times, saying they "formed a human wall to block people from entering the precinct." 

The NYPD's own videotape did not show such a human wall, and their officers did not show that any disruption had taken place, other than delay by several minutes of an officer entering the precinct.  They jury began deliberations late Friday afternoon and will continue at 9:45 am Monday.