Yesterday, a Manhattan judge convicted twenty activists of disorderly conduct seven months after their arrest at a protest outside a Harlem police precinct last year. The defendants, including Princeton University professor and civil rights activist Cornel West, were among 32 demonstrators purposefully arrested while protesting the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy at an OWS-related rally on October 21. The trial drew national attention for being one of the biggest and most politically charged group trials the city has seen in recent years.
Prosecutors argued that the protesters obstructed the sidewalk and precinct entrance, and refused to cooperate with the NYPD when they were ordered to move. Defense lawyer, Paul Mills, countered that his clients never broke the law, and cited their first amendment rights.
"Why is the freedom of speech amendment, amendment number one?" Mills asked during his closing argument. "It's the one that protects all the others." But Judge Robert Mandelbaum said evidence showed the demonstrators illegally crossing an impermissible NYPD barrier during the protest. He sentenced nineteen of the defendants to time served — Sade Andona, an artist and local radio host, was sentenced to two days community service after getting into a heated exchange with the prosecutors during her cross-examination.
Mills' wife, folk singer Suzanne Vega, met with Judge Mandelbaum post-trial, after he told Mills he was a fan. Later, Vega told the Daily News that the meeting was "sort of awkward," after telling the judge she was unhappy with the verdict. "He told me that's my prerogative," she said.
The protesters are appealing the verdict. Meanwhile, West told the Times on Friday that the court did what it had to do. "I disagree," he said, "but that is what democracy is all about."
