$190 worth of justice

i’ve never really had a good lawyer til today.  Jeff was great in the Cville Occupy 18 case which was tried today.  At my favorite point in the trial, Jeff got the city manager to admit that the complaints about Occupy Cville were from representatives of the 1% in the ritzy housing around Lee Park and these got the Occupy protesters (representing the 99%) removed.

Jeff basically vanished the indecent exposure charge against co-protester Beyonce in several clear cross examine questions to lead cop at the arrest. After the cop got off the stand, it was clear that they had no idea about the relevant law and thought it was not simply “arrest all nude people”.  Tragically, Beyonce’s message about black youth in the Cville criminal justice system was completely vanished by the media.


Protesters immediatley after the trial

More generally, Jeff put forward a tight case that the supreme court had protected exactly the type of free speech against exactly the type of regulations that Cville has in place.  And unsurprisingly, the judge was having none of it.

Video from Newsplex coverage of Occupy Cville trial

And in the end the judge fined us $100, plus $80 in court fees plus $10 in community services fees.  Perhaps i will do mine with Cop Watch.