Four defendants going on trial in Queens, NY next week are among dozens of people who were arrested over the past year in response to the call issued by Carl Dix and Cornel West to stop stop-and-frisk. Twenty were convicted of disorderly conduct in Manhattan but were given no jail time.  

Now, nineteen face trial in Queens and Brooklyn. Instead of being put on trial and possibly serving jail time, people who put their bodies on the line to fight injustice should be commended for serving public interest. 

Yet the Queens District Attorney office is piling charges on these protesters.  Months after the protest, the DA added another charge that carried another year of jail time, without citing anything additional the defendants had done. On October 9, the DA changed the charges, adding "acting in concert" to the charges without informing the defense. This DA was unable, or unwilling, to effectively prosecute the cops who murdered the unarmed Sean Bell in 2006 in a hail of 50 bullets, but it is vigorously trying to put people in jail for protesting injustice. 

It is important that this travesty of justice not be allowed to go down without opposition. We intend to win these legal cases and to fight them in a way that builds the fight to stop stop-and-frisk. We need your help to do that. October 23 marks the start of the first of 5 upcoming trials. Here’s what you can do:

On Monday October 22, between the hours of 9am and 5:00 pm EST, call the office of District Attorney Richard A Brown: 718-286-6000. Ask that all charges from November 19, 2011 be dropped on: Carl Dix, Jamel Mims, Robert Parsons and Morgan Rhodewalt.

The next morning, we'll be demanding the same thing at a rally as the trial opens. Write us with the DA's response, please.

The trial set for Tuesday in Queens, and continued on Wednesday, is now adjourned until Tuesday October 23 -- Mark your calendar! -- for Carl Dix, Jamel Mims, Morgan Rhodewalt and Bob Parsons, the first group to be tried from 13 arrested on November 19, 2011 at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, Queens.  In addition, on October 23 a new trial date will be set for the second group of Queens defendants, Calvin Barnwell, Elaine Brower, John Hector, and Richie Marini, who were originally scheduled to be tried on Monday October 22.

As a reminder of what kicked off last fall with the campaign of non-violent civil disobedience to STOP stop-and-frisk, check some of the videos of the spirited community rally and march that began in Jamaica Queens, went through crowded shopping streets, and culminated outside the 103rd Precinct:

Stop "Stop and Frisk" - Protest in Jamaica, Queens, NYC (Third Rally ...

Nov. 19 Stop Stop-and-Frisk Community Speakers

Nov. 19 Stop Stop-and-Frisk Columbia Students, activists speaking

Steve Yip & Carl Dix Nov. 19 Stop Stop-and-Frisk

Stop Stop-and-Frisk at the 103rd Precinct

Tuesday, the four Queens defendants and three lawyers spent a day and a half working out preliminary arrangements for the trial on two counts of Obstruction of Government Administration, and one of Disorderly Conduct arising from "failure to disperse."  Last month Judge Lopez allowed the government to add a section charge of OGA onto 13 defendants, under the legal theory that the defendants obstructed business at the precinct (Count 1) and then, in an independently unlawful act, failed to stop doing so (Count 2).  You may notice that they are basically charged twice for failure to disperse.  But the prosecution is "legal."

Just before the trial would have started yesterday, the District Attorney handed out "charge" sheets with three words added to each count: "in concert with."  It's not even clear that the D.A. himself knew those three words were in there, or what import they had, but our attorneys saw right away that, instead of being charged as individuals for unlawful acts, the defendants are now charged as a group. There is clearly a difference.  While the judge criticized the D.A. for bringing this in at the last minute, he allowed the change.

Because defense counsel objected to having this dropped on us, the judge allowed an adjournment, or continuance, until October 23. 

FYI, here are the laws 13 defendants are charged with violating:

• 195.05 Obstructing governmental administration in the second degree. A person is guilty of obstructing governmental administration when he intentionally obstructs, impairs or perverts the administration of law or other governmental function or prevents or attempts to prevent a public servant from performing an official function, by means of intimidation, physical force or interference, or by means of any independently unlawful act.
• 240.20 Disorderly Conduct Statute says that a violation of New York Penal Law 240.20 occurs when a person, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof: engages in one or more of the following activities, i.e.: congregates with other persons in a public place and refuses to comply with a lawful order of the police to disperse.

Other preliminary argument concerned whether the D.A. could have Police Legal officer Kenneth O'Donnell testify.  O'Donnell was feeding lines to the 103rd Commander McEvoy at the scene of the arrests on November 19, and has been a frequent presence at Occupy arrests, identified as a particularly abusive officer.   You can see him punching an OWS protester here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcBX5lupbjQ and waving after the November 19 arrests in Queens here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUm0giuEiM0

When our legal team said they would "love" to have O'Donnell on the stand, and the judge pointed out that O'Donnell is the lawyer for police officers and can't have "limited confidentiality" the D. A. decided not to call him as a witness.

The D.A. is opposed to having the First Amendment issues in the case put before the jury because it will "confuse" them.  It's not what the defendants think, but what they did, he argues.  Even the judge agreed that in protest cases, the First Amendment could be involved.  So the jury selection process will involve questions about stop-and-frisk, protest, and what the jurors know or think about those topics that are essential to what happened on November 19, 2011.

Carl, Jamel, Morgan & Bob went in for trial today at Kew Gardens. About a dozen people came out to support them and Christina who also had a hearing before Judge Lopez.  We expected to start jury selection; however, the judge said a new panel of jurors would be coming in tomorrow, so he wanted to wait a day to start the trial, and take care of preliminary matters.

Those matters took up the whole day, and all the defendants go back tomorrow morning.  The issues mostly came up from the prosecutor. Most importantly, he submitted a change to the terms of the charges of Obstruction of Government Administration to add the words "in concert with" to what each defendant is charged with....11 months
after the arrests, this is the first time anyone has seen this language. This means defendants are implicated for just being present, not for their own individual actions.  

It appears the judge will accept the change, after allowing defense to argue against that, although he criticized the prosecutor for making the change so late.  With the change, defense may need more time to prepare the cases on this theory, and the trial may be delayed.  We should know more mid-day tomorrow.

It was very important that we took our effort to take the resistance to Stop & Face to the 103rd police precinct in Jamaica, Queens.  In part, this was important because the illegitimate and racist policy of the NYPD was heavily applied there against Black and Latino youth.  Just as important, this was the scene of the police murder of Sean Bell in November of 2006. The same police department whose officers gunned down Sean Bell in a hail of 50 bullets is today treating large numbers of youth like criminals, guilty until proven innocent, if they can survive to prove their innocence.  On Tuesday, the District Attorney’s office that forgot how to prosecute when Sean Bell’s murderers were brought into court will try to send people who protested Stop & Frisk to jail.  What can you say about a system that exonerates cops who kill unarmed, innocent people but persecutes people who stand up against injustice?

WHAT:  Rally, Photo-op, Trial

WHEN: Tuesday October 9   8:45 am Rally; 9:30 am Trial 

WHERE: Room K11 Queens Criminal Court 125-01 Queens Blvd Kew Garden NY Room 

Queens, NY -- Four of thirteen who protested "stop stop-and-frisk” last November will be tried Tuesday in Queens Criminal Court.  The same District Attorney who failed to make a case convicting NYPD officers for killing the unarmed Sean Bell with 50 bullets in 2006, has brought the most serious charges against persons associated with the nonviolent civil disobedience campaign against the NYPD policy of stop-and-frisk initiated by Carl Dix and Cornel West last October.  

"NYPD Cops have killed innocent and unarmed people, including Ramarley Graham, Reynaldo Cueves in 2012.   Just days ago, Noel Polanco, another unarmed man, was killed in his car.  NYPD  stopped and frisked an average of almost 2,000 people a day for the first six months of 2012.  Yet the Queens D.A. is trying to send people who put their bodies on the line to stop this injustice to jail!"

Supporters of the dozens of people arrested in protesting “stop-and-frisk” say they should not be prosecuted at all, and instead should be thanked and honored.  They will do so Tuesday October 30 at the historic St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Gene Lopez last month allowed the Queens D.A. to add a second charge of Obstruction of Governmental Administration, a Class “A” misdemeanor carrying a possible 12 months in jail.  Carl Dix, who initiated the campaign with Cornel Wes, and Jamel Mims, Morgan Rhodewalt and Robert Parsons will be tried Tuesday on 2 counts of OGA, and one count of Disorderly Conduct for failure to disperse.  

On November 19, a community rally and march through Jamaica ended at the 103rd Precinct which had been completely barricaded on NYPD lock-down in anticipation of the protest.  20 people were arrested in less than 10 minutes, after being led into the barricaded area by NYPD.

"We will put stop-and-frisk on trial,” commented Elaine Brower, who will be tried October 22 for the same Queens protest.  Brower added, “Stop-and-frisk is a major pipeline to mass incarceration and criminalizes Black and Latino people.  It must be ended, not mended.   We defend our actions, and will expose attempts to suppress nonviolent protest.” 

Photos from Nov 2011 Queens protest

"Twenty people arrested for protesting against N.Y.P.D’s stop and frisk policy" (Narrative NYC, Nov 2011)