Manhattan prosecutors dropped all criminal charges on young Harlem activist Noche Diaz today after an 18-month prosecution.  Diaz had been charged with interfering with NYPD arrests of others during protests against stop-and-frisk in 2011 and against the vigilante murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012.  A group of 40 supporters came to support him at a trial which was set to begin today.

Diaz, who could have received two years at Rikers for four misdemeanors, pled guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation.  Several supporters described the events today as a victory, in that Diaz received no criminal record or jail time.

He described, to a packed courtroom, an “average day in Harlem, where the NYPD carries out some part of its 1,900 daily stop and frisks, 85-90% of which are of Black or Latino people, over 90% of whom are doing nothing wrong and given no legal or legitimate reason for being stopped, and routinely put up against walls and searched, have their basic rights violated, and often worse.”

1700 people sent messages to Cyrus Vance, Manhattan District Attorney, calling for the charges to be dropped.  Many supporters referenced NYPD’s policy of stop-and-frisk, currently under examination in Floyd v City of New York, a lawsuit in federal court blocks away.  Court observers, many there because of stop-and-frisk arrests, commented with admiration on Noche’s example as a young person who looks out for others by standing up for their rights.

Diaz supporters include: Gbenga Akinnagbe,actor/director; Randy Credico, impressionist and social comedian, NYC; Annette Warren Dickerson, Center for Constitutional Rights*; Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party; Walt Frazier, former NBA player; musicians Jasiri X and M1; Arturo O'Farill, musician; Bill Perkins, NY State Senator; Rev. Stephen Phelps, The Riverside Church,* NYC; Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, and Raymond Santana of the Central Park 5; actor Mark Ruffalo, and professor Cornel West.

Diaz faces additional charges in The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens in similar situations where he was observing police abuse, or protesting it.  He is available for interviews.

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Media Liaison Team
"Stop Mass Incarceration: We're Better Than That!" Network
c/o P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station
New York City, New York 10002-0900
Phone: 347-979-SMIN (7646)
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.stopmassincarceration.org

The "Stop Mass Incarceration: We're Better Than That!" Network is a project of the Alliance for Global Justice, a 501c3 tax-exempt organization.  Tax-deductible contributions accepted, and checks should be made payable to the "Alliance for Global Justice, with "Mass Incarceration Network" in the memo line.  Other forms of contributions also accepted.

What:    Rally, Trial, Photo Op

Where:  100 Centre Street, Manhattan

When:   Tuesday, April 23, 9:00 am Rally

              9:30 am Trial; Part C Manhattan Criminal Court

Noche Diaz, a young leader in the movement against mass incarceration and NYPD stop-and-frisk, is to be tried tomorrow in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges in two Harlem precincts.  Manhattan prosecutors combined two separate incidents into one trial, citing a “pattern” of interfering with arrests of others.  Diaz is charged with four Class A misdemeanors, and Disorderly Conduct, carrying a possible two years at Rikers Island.

Supporters of the defendant allege a pattern by NYPD of targeting Diaz, who is well known in Harlem for telling people they have rights not to be abused by police.

Supporters have waged a campaign to have the charges dropped, citing persons’ legal right to observe police activity, and the fact that both arrests occurred during political protests; an October 2011 protest against NYPD stop-and-frisk at the 28th Precinct, and a March protest by high school students against the vigilante murder of Trayvon Martin.

Hundreds have contacted Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance with the message “Hands off Noche Diaz.  Drop the Charges Against Him” including the Rev. Stephen Phelps, Interim Senior Minister of The Riverside Church; Walt Frazier, former NBA star; Latin jazz musician Arturo O’Farill, and Cornel West and Carl Dix who together initiated the campaign of mass civil disobedience against NYPD stop-and-frisk in 2011.

Diaz, age 24, an activist with the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, cites his experience being repeatedly stopped and frisked by the NYPD and says, “I’m on trial in Manhattan, facing up to two years in jail, precisely because when these kinds of things go down I don’t walk by and I don’t let it happen in silence, I don’t let people get violated without someone speaking up for them. I’ve been standing up for these youth for years. And I’ve been targeted for my role in doing that.”

Supporters will rally tomorrow and be in the courtroom this week during his jury trial.

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After two days of prosecution witnesses -- four cops -- the judge in the Brooklyn Criminal court trial of Gbenga Akinnagbe, Luis Barrios, Carl Dix and Morgan Rhodewalt granted defense motion to dismiss charges of disorderly conduct.  The trial of Gregory Allen, who defended himself in November, brought the same result.  Defense counsel says it's likely that six remaining defendants scheduled for trial March 12 will also win dismissal.
This is good news, and hard won, after dozens of court appearances.

Prosecutors initially charged 20 defendants with disorderly conduct, a violation, and two counts of Obstruction of Government Administration, a Class A misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of 12 months.  Last fall, the OGA charges were dropped when prosecutors admitted that video evidence didn't support them.

But even after Greg Allen convinced a judge that the prosecutors couldn't prove disorderly conduct, the Brooklyn District Attorney proceeded in a second trial on the same facts.  Three arresting officers and Captain William Gardner of the Brooklyn North Task Force described their mission as "counter-terrorism, high-crime patrols, and disorder control."  The task force has special training in crowd control and dispersion, and was a key part of NYPD's small army of police surrounding and trailing Occupy Wall Street. When asked, the Captain said he had "no opinion" on the message of the November 1, 2011 protest against NYPD's stop-and-frisk practice.

The protest was the second in a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network to end the NYPD policy.  Jason Lewis, in the Village Voice, Ninth Time's the Charm? Nah, But Arrested Stop and Frisk Protestors Finally Go to Trial in Brooklyn"NYPD officer John Blanco--who arrested co-defendant the Rev. Luis Barrios of St. Mary's Episcopal Church--was the first of five cops to deliver testimony in the trial. Blanco repeatedly indicated that he didn't observe any protestors blocking entry into the building. In fact, he testified that he never even saw anyone attempt to enter the precinct through that entrance."

Matt Sledge, writing in The Huffington Post, NYPD Stop-And-Frisk Policy Challenged In Court By 'The Wire' Actor:  "On cross-examination, defense attorney Martin Stolar was able to extract from Blanco, over the prosecutor's objections, that he has stop-and-frisked a number of New Yorkers as part of his work with an NYPD high-crime task force. In 2011, the year of the protest, 73rd Precinct officers stopped 25,167 New Yorkers. Ninety-eight percent of them were black or Latino."

Defense counsel from Brooklyn Legal Aid Society, and Marty Stolar of the National Lawyers Guild successfully argued that the prosecution never established facts to prove disorderly conduct, in that no lawful order to disperse was given, but rather an arbitrary order to leave.  The precinct was open to the public during the loud protest outside; protesters were arrested very quickly after arriving in front of the precinct.

The work of the whole Brooklyn defense team is much appreciated by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and the defendants.  Thanks to Noha Momtaz Tahrir Arafa, Genesis Fisher, Julie Fry, Elizabeth Latimer, Meg Maurus, Alex Smith, Marty Stolar, and Amy Swenson.

What:    Rally, Vigil, Photo-Op

Where:  Union Square South, 14th Street and University Place Manhattan

When:   4:00 pm Tuesday, February 26

6:00 pm Parents of Trayvon Martin hold vigil at same location (event added)

On February 26, one year after the killing of Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old African American in Sanford Florida, there are 2nd degree murder charges against Zimmerman, but supporters of justice for Trayvon worry the charges will not be pursued.  The Stop Mass Incarceration Network, which protested the quick release of Zimmerman after Trayvon's death, is calling for renewed protest.  “Trayvon's parents heroically stood up and called for justice for Trayvon, and in response people poured into the streets all across the country.  This is the only reason Zimmerman was re-arrested and charged for his crime.”

The Network calls people back to the streets, to wear hoodies and act in other ways to show that “we refuse to accept the bulls-eye that has been placed on the backs of Black and Latino youth.  Further, they say “we must mark the murder of Trayvon by wearing hoodies, by gathering in appropriate places and demonstrating our defiance and our determination to refuse to accept this mistreatment.”

Other cities will also be marking this anniversary by taking to the streets and wearing hoodies:

Los Angeles
4:00 pm Leimert Park, Crenshaw Blvd. & Vernon Ave.

New Haven CT 
5:00 pm Beinecke Plaza, Two blocks from the New Haven Green, on Wall St. between York St. & College St.  [Rain location the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale, 211 Park Street]. 

Greensboro, NC 
4:00 PM Elm & Market Streets

SF Bay Area 
4:00 PM Convergence: Hegenberger & International, Oakland CA 

Sanford FL
5:00 PM Vigil at Fort Mellon Park, 700 E 1st St and S Locust Ave

What: Press Conference/Photo Op

Where: Brooklyn Criminal Court 120 Schermerhorn Street

When:   9:00 am; Trial at 9:30 am

Brooklyn NY – Brooklyn prosecutors are pursuing disorderly conduct charges on thirteen of twenty-eight people arrested in November 2011 for attempting to protest outside NYPD’s 73rd Precinct as part of a wave of non-violent civil disobedience against stop-and-frisk.  Nine of the defendants are expected to be tried Wednesday December 5 in Brooklyn Criminal Court.  One, Gregory Allen, has already defended himself pro se against the charge, and awaits a decision tomorrow.

Carl Dix, initiator along with Cornel West of the campaign of non-violent protests to stop stop-and-frisk, said the defendants “won’t stop until we stop stop-and-frisk.” After more than a year of concentrated protest against what opponents call a “racist, unconstitutional, unjust” policy, a poll last month by Quinnipiac Polling Institute found that a majority of city voters — 53% — are opposed to stop and frisk. 

The 73rd  Precinct, in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, had the highest rate of stop-and-frisk actions by NYPD of any precinct in the city in 2011.  About 100 opponents of stop-and-frisk marched to the precinct on November 1, 2011 chanting “We Say NO to the New Jim Crow! Stop-and-frisk has got to GO!” 

NYPD officers formed a line near the sidewalk, preventing protesters from getting near the front entrance to the precinct.  Prosecutors say the defendants, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Gregory Allen, Fr. Luis Barrios, Marina Bennedetto, Randy Credico, Noche Diaz, Carl Dix, John Hector, Christina Gonzalez, Nick Malinowski, Robert Parsons, Morgan Rhodewalt and Matt Swaye, obstructed the entrance.  They have dropped plans to prosecute the group for Obstruction of Government Administration.

Defendants and their attorneys say they plan to show that traffic in and out of the precinct was never obstructed.  Footage of the protest is available on Youtube here.  Several of the defendants were convicted of disorderly conduct, while being found not guilty by a jury on November 15 of more serious protest charges for a November 2011 protest in Queens at the 103rd Precinct.

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What: Press Conference/Photo Op

Where: Brooklyn Criminal Court 120 Schermerhorn Street

When:   Thursday, November 29, 9:00 am
            Trial 9:30 am

Brooklyn NY - Brooklyn prosecutors are pursuing disorderly conduct charges on thirteen of twenty-eight people arrested in November 2011 for attempting to protest outside NYPD's 73rd Precinct as part of a wave of non-violent civil disobedience against stop-and-frisk.  Several of the defendants are expected to be tried tomorrow in Brooklyn Criminal Court.

After more than a year of concentrated protest against what opponents call a “racist, unconstitutional, unjust” policy, a poll last week by Quinnipiac Polling Institute found that a majority of city voters -- 53% -- are opposed to stop-and-frisk. 

The 73rd, in Ocean Hill/Brownsville, had the highest rate of stop-and-frisk actions by NYPD of any precinct in the city in 2011.  About 100 opponents of stop-and-frisk marched to the precinct on November 1, 2011 chanting “We Say NO to the New Jim Crow! Stop-and-Frisk Has Got to GO!” 

NYPD officers formed a line near the sidewalk, preventing protesters from getting near the front entrance to the precinct.  Prosecutors say the defendants, Randy Credico, Noche Diaz, John Hector, Christina Gonzalez, Nick Malinowski, Robert Parsons, and Matt Swaye, obstructed the entrance.  They have dropped plans to prosecute the group for Obstruction of Government Administration.

Defendants and their attorneys say they plan to show that traffic in and out of the precinct was never obstructed.  They intend to deliver 1400 messages to Charles Hynes, Kings County District Attorney, demanding that charges be dropped.

END

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Queens Defendants Found NOT Guilty of Serious OGA Charges

Queens, NY – A Queens jury today found four men not guilty of obstructing the NYPD’s 103rd Precinct last year.  The high-stakes trial for political protesters began October 23, delayed several times by weather, and almost ended with a mistrial because of the highly unusual arrest of a sitting juror last week.

Carl Dix, Jamel Mims, Morgan Rhodewalt and Robert Parsons were charged with two counts of Obstruction of Government Administration, a Class A misdemeanor which carries a possible sentence of 12 months in jail.  Prosecutors failed to convince the jury that the men, who were part of a group of 20 who loudly protested the NYPD stop-and-frisk policy last November 19, had disrupted normal functioning of the precinct.

Dix said today, “The prosecution attempted to make us pay a heavy price for protesting against stop and frisk.  They crafted the case from the beginning, and failed in this objective. They put on a case, but couldn’t provide any evidence that we obstructed the precinct, or that we intended to do that.  At the 103rdPrecinct last year, and today in court, we delivered a loud message against NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy, and we won’t stop protesting this unjust, unconstitutional, racist, policy.”

The jury found the defendants guilty of one count of disorderly conduct, a violation.  They will be sentenced January 7.  13 more defendants await trial next year for the same incident.

END