'Not guilty' DNC protesters avoid weekend stay
Those pleading 'not guilty' avoid weekend stay
By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 29, 2008 at 11:45 p.m.
Denver County Court changed its process in the middle of hearings Friday morning to accommodate protesters arrested during the Democratic National Convention.
Protesters had come to court intending to postpone their return court dates so they wouldn't have to stay in Denver until next week.
Judges at first remained adamant that they could not divert from a process set up to handle mass arrests during the convention. The process required people who were arrested to come to court Tuesday to get a trial date if they pleaded not guilty.
"This is the process, and I am going to follow it," Judge James Breese told the group of about 25 protesters who came to a special court session Friday hoping to plead not guilty and come back to court in October.
The protesters had been called by court staff, and some said they had recorded messages that indicated they could "reset" their cases. Instead, they were told they could only plead guilty to resolve their cases and not have to return next week. The hearings are called "disposition/reset" hearings.
Breese apologized to protesters who may have misunderstood.
But attorneys mounted objections to the process, which is unusual and peculiar to the protesters arrested during the DNC. Attorneys were told they could not appear next week on behalf of their clients.
Denver lawyer Robert Corry said one of his clients was a "bystander" arrested for making a call on his cell phone when a police officer told him to stop.
"This is a violation of his First Amendment rights," Corry said. "It's ridiculous. It's an outrage and a huge, huge inconvenience to these people to make them come back to court next week. They are here now. We all are here now."
Corry and other lawyers said they expected the city attorney to dismiss some of the cases once the facts were reviewed.
Several other county judges arrived in the courtroom to observe, and they conferred with Breese during a recess. Then the city attorneys and defense attorneys were called into chambers.
After about 10 minutes, court reconvened, and Breese announced the process had been adjusted so people who came to court Friday could reset their cases to return in October.
A cheer went up in the courtroom, which was quickly called back to order.
"This is an excellent change," attorney Brian Vicente of the People's Law Project said after the hearing. "The court system has shown it can be reasonable. I commend Judge Breese on this decision. They've done the right thing."
Earlier, Vicente had objected to the process, particularly because there weren't that many people arrested in the demonstrations.
"It does seem like an attempt to coerce people to plead guilty today," he said before the procedure was changed. He also said a number of people pleaded guilty when they were first seen in court early Tuesday morning without seeing lawyers. "That's not fair," he said.
A handful of protesters did plead guilty Friday to put their cases behind them.
The totals
154 arrests (initially reported as 152) at convention-related demonstrations Sunday through Thursday.
66 of those arrested are from Colorado.
27 was the average age of those arrested.
46 people from Denver were arrested.
7 people from Boulder were arrested.
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August 30, 2008
10:55 a.m.
Suggest removal
Uno writes:
Looks like in Denver lawlessness prevails again.
August 30, 2008
1:08 p.m.
Suggest removal
MC2008 writes:
Exercising First Amendment rights is not lawlessness; coercing people to enter a guilty plea is lawless. Good job, People's Law Project!
September 1, 2008
12:06 p.m.
Suggest removal
solar_satellite writes:
I know that Rob Corry is a champion of our rights. Are there some Democratic lawyers in town willing to stand up against our incompetent and lawless City administration too?