From Stop Mass Incarceration Network So Cal

3 April 14 Protesters Convicted in LA: No Jail Time—Drop the Charges on Other Protesters!

November 20, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On November 19, three young determined fighters to STOP murder by police were each convicted of 3 misdemeanor charges in LA Superior Court. These protestors dared to hit the streets April 14, 2015 to demand cops in the United States STOP murdering people, NOW. They were arrested at the protest by the LAPD.

For standing up to a reign of terror by police in this country, the system responded by targeting them politically, dragging them into court and piling on charges. The multiple charges these protestors faced, and now their trial convictions, are a clear-cut case of political persecution. A serious struggle to overturn these convictions and demand no jail time, and to drop the charges against seven other #ShutDownA14 defendants whose trials start soon, is being mounted.

#ShutDownA14 in Los Angeles was part of nationwide actions to stop police murder, and came at a crucial juncture in this country. At the time of these April 14 actions, the mass U.S. protests following the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner had ebbed and the movement that had shaken the country since Ferguson was being attacked and slandered. There was an urgent need to retake the political offensive. These three defendants were part of actions that took place in 30 U.S. cities on April 14. They took the streets with several thousand others nationwide to re-open the road of mass resistance to murder by police of Black and Latino people, who are specific targets of police violence in the U.S. The powers-that-be have zeroed in on those arrested at A14 actions in vindictive prosecutions, as well as a number of other people who were arrested during the powerful upsurge over numerous months, to intimidate any others from standing up to demand police murder must STOP.

The trial of these three in LA Superior Court was an outrage. Judge David Fields acted as prosecutor and worked hand-in-glove with City Attorney Jennifer Waxler to paint the righteous protestors as criminals and the police as purveyors of fairness and public order. It’s not a good development that not one juror voted to reject what was clearly a politically-driven persecution aimed at suppressing mass protest against police brutality, murder and mass incarceration.

The protestors were convicted of “trespassing” on Metro Train property in downtown Los Angeles, “failure to comply with a lawful order by police” to leave the train tracks, and “willfully and maliciously obstructing streets and sidewalks” during the protest (for which there was an LA Police Commission approved permit!). The sentencing date for the defendants is December 3, the same day as the one year anniversary of the exoneration of the cop who choked Eric Garner to death.

The protestors face 3 years in jail! Yet, day after day and year after year – thousands of people in the U.S. are killed by police, including hundreds of unarmed people. Ezell Ford, Omar Abrego, Brother Africa, and so many others murdered by the LAPD, and no charges filed against the police responsible for their murders. Tamir Rice – a 12 year old child in Cleveland, murdered… yet no charges. Police are exonerated time after time, even when we ALL see police murders on video. This epidemic of police murdering people, and getting away with it time after time, makes the political convictions that happened in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, November 19th even more unacceptable and outrageous – a legal decision that must be responded to by broad sections of society with anger, condemnation and disgust.

What You Can Do:

Protest this latest act of political repression aimed at the movement to stop murder by police and demand the police who murdered 12 year old Tamir Rice be indicted, convicted and sent to jail as part of nationwide actions on the one year anniversary of Tamir Rice’s murder by Cleveland Police:

Sunday, November 22
3:00PM
65th and Broadway
At the site of the LAPD murder of Ezell Ford

Monday, November 23
12 noon
Los Angeles Superior Court
210 W. Temple St

Call, or send letters to demand NO JAIL TIME for the convicted defendants and to demand DROP THE CHARGES on the remaining seven A14 defendants to:

Mike Feuer, LA City Attorney
213-978-8100
mike.n.feuer@lacity.org

Jennifer Waxler, Prosecutor in LA City Attorney’s Office
213-978-7840
Jennifer.Waxler@lacity.org

And please send copies to stopmassincarcerationsocal@yahoo.com
And/or call the Stop Mass Incarceration Network So Cal at 213-840-5348, including for info on the upcoming protest actions!

 

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