Oren Acquitted of Major Charges, Convicted of Minor
by NEOaid Thursday September 18, 2003 at 02:25 AM
www.neoaid.org

Oren, defendant from the May 4th protests in Kent, finished his trial yesterday, September 17th.

We had a split result today on the trial of Oren Casdi.

First, He was acquitted of the charge of Resisting Arrest.

Later, the Jury returned a split verdict on the remaining charges. The Jury found Oren guilty of "failure to comply with a lawful order" and "disorderly conduct by hindering traffic" but not guilty of the enhanced disorderly conduct specification, that he persisted after being reasonably warned.

For the charge of Resisting Arrest we were very fortunate to have a videotape showing the arrest of Oren Casdi and Art McCoy. (Oren was charged with hindering Art's arrest.) We were able to contrast the testimony of the police officer with the videotape and make it apparent that the officer's testimony was not credible. It was clear on the videotape that the two officers ran from behind the police line and grabbed Oren and Art at the same time, neither resisted. We were interested to hear the officer who arrested Oren testify that he decided to arrest Oren after he observed a "tug of war" between the officer arresting Art McCoy and Oren (tugging on the other side of Art).

For disorderly conduct by hindering traffic, this jury was not impressed by the fact that the police clearly closed the street before the march arrived. (They accepted the argument that this police decision was caused by the marchers. They were troubled by the element of this charge that the conduct is "by any act which serves no lawful and reasonable purpose" (such as the right to freely express political dissent) but obviously concluded that they could convict.

For failure to comply (a first degree misdemeanor charge added in late July), they apparently spent some time considering whether the prosecutor proved that the defendant heard an order to stay off Main Street. Despite the obvious competing noises of drums, chanting and helicopter, and the fact that Oren was himself drumming, the jury concluded that he must have heard the police announcement, and they held him responsible for "failure to comply".

We will appeal. Immediate costs will be $120 filing fee and $500 deposit for transcript. I anticipate an additional $1500-$2000 for the full transcript bill, in addition to the additional work on appeal and other costs. The sentence is "stayed pending appeal." (That means, no penalty now).

But, so you know the stakes, I anticipate this: Fine of $100, court costs (probably about $650), jail time of 180 days suspended on condition of completion of 50 hours community service and no similar offenses.

In addition to these costs, none of the lawyers have been paid any money for an enormous amount of work and there is much work to be done. An extraordinary effort must be made in the fund raising area if we are to continue this fight. Right now far more charges have resulted in acquittal or dismissal than conviction and we believe we can win these cases on appeal. IT CAN"T BE DONE WITHOUT FUNDS. The absence of funds will result in either great expense to the individuals charged or the appeals will have to be dismissed and the police will get away with gross vioaltions of civil rights. To donate, please contact www.neoaid.org, notifying them that you wish to donate specifically to Oren's fund.

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