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Lawyers guild lime green caps Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/a4protest.htmlhttp://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/a4protest.html
GREEN HATS ON THE LOOKOUT
Civil Rights Lawyers Watch for Violations as Prosecutors Decide Whether to Charge Protesters
BY STEPHANIE FRANCIS CAHILL
It might not be high fashion, but lime-green baseball caps certainly stand out in a crowd. The National Lawyers Guild, a liberal civil rights group, has selected the distinctive chapeaux for volunteer observers to wear at anti-war demonstrations across the country. Police have arrested thousands of protesters since the war against Iraq began on March 19, but the hats are getting the guild’s observers noticed, says Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the organization.
"If there’s an altercation, we run over and stand there, to observe," she says. "It does act as a deterrent. Law enforcement is getting to know us, and it makes protesters feel more comfortable expressing their First Amendment rights."
The guild’s objective is to let the police know they’re keeping an eye on things and watching for civil rights violations. But hats or no hats, prosecutors may bring charges against scores of protesters.
Some city prosecutors across the country don’t know how–or even if–they will charge people arrested in the protests because they don’t have the cases from police departments yet. Many city prosecutors suspect they will end up charging most with unlawful assembly, usually a misdemeanor.
In New York City, Boghosian says, 675 anti-war protesters have been arrested since Feb. 15. The majority of those arrested received desk appearance tickets for disorderly conduct. Approximately 50 face misdemeanor charges for resisting arrest, she says, and eight are charged with felonies, on the grounds that they assaulted police officers.
Few serious charges are expected in San Francisco, where 2,300 protesters were arrested between March 20 and March 28. Prosecutors originally charged 12 protesters with felonies, but those charges were later reduced to misdemeanors or dropped completely, says Mark MacNamara, spokesman for the San Francisco district attorney’s office.
Some of the charges were withdrawn because police could not find witnesses, and the city’s history of supporting protests also was taken into account. San Francisco has a budget deficit, MacNamara says, and the city will attempt to collect fines from some arrests "to help defray the costs of managing those protests."
Judges in San Francisco superior court are expected to preside over about 30 protest cases, McNamara says. Less serious cases will be heard in traffic court or neighborhood community courts, where area residents decide the penalties.
But there is a concern about calling on police officers to testify against those charged. Some say it’s not worth the trouble to bring protesters to court.
"Many people here in the city who oppose protesters have said the only people who benefit from all this are the police, who get overtime to appear in court," MacNamara says.
In Chicago, the Cook County state’s attorney doesn’t know yet how the office will handle protest charges. It hasn’t received information from police yet, says a spokesman for the agency. The biggest Chicago protest to date occurred March 20, when approximately 15,000 people gathered in downtown Chicago and closed a portion of Lake Shore Drive during the evening rush hour. Police arrested about 800 people that evening and 75 people the next morning.
Melinda L. Power, a Chicago lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild, represents some of the arrested protesters. She suspects that the city will seek significant charges.
"I think the city wants to send a message that they don’t want people to protest, and if you do protest, these are the consequences you’ll have to face," Power says. "At this point, I’m expecting we’re really going to have to fight to win these cases."
Power suspects the charges will be for reckless conduct or mob action.
"Our position is the city should drop the charges, because they did nothing illegal," she says.
Los Angeles police officers also arrested anti-war protesters in the past month. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office says the city attorney’s office will charge most of the protesters with misdemeanors. The Los Angeles National Lawyers Guild chapter is providing training sessions for volunteer lawyers to represent those charged.
And chapter members there are still observing protests in their green hats. That, and advance planning, tends to limit the number of arrests.
"If things are done in advance and you talk to the police, it goes like a ballet," says James Lafferty, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter, who makes a point of getting a permit in advance of protests.
Some of the protests in recent weeks involve civil disobedience. Lafferty says there is a right and a wrong way to disobey civilly. For instance, if a protest involves sitting in the middle of the street, protesters should respond to an arrest by walking themselves to the police bus instead of going limp and having the police carry them. The latter usually prompts charges of resisting arrest in addition to unlawful assembly, Lafferty says.
"Resisting arrest can have more consequences," he says. "If you’re on probation, have a warrant, are an immigrant or are on your third strike, you may want to think twice about that."
©2003 ABA Journal
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