Judge: I saw police commit felonies (Miami protests)

[Sava]

FREE TRADE MEETING
Judge: I saw police commit felonies

A judge who said he witnessed some of the anti-free trade protests complains in open court about how police handled the demonstrations.

By AMY DRISCOLL
adriscoll@herald.com

A judge presiding over the cases of free trade protesters said in court that he saw ''no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers'' during the November demonstrations, adding to a chorus of complaints about police conduct.

Judge Richard Margolius, 60, made the remarks in open court last week, saying he was taken aback by what he witnessed while attending the protests.

''Pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes. And I have always supported the police during my entire career,'' he said, according to a court transcript. ``This was a real eye-opener. A disgrace for the community.''

In the transcript, he also said he may have to remove himself from any additional cases involving arrests made during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit.

''I probably would have been arrested myself if it had not been for a police officer who recognized me,'' said the judge, who wears his hair in a graying ponytail.

CIRCUIT JUDGE

Margolius, appointed to the bench in 1982, retired as a circuit judge in 2001 but said he still hears cases 15 to 20 weeks a year when courts are overburdened.

On Friday, he chose not to elaborate on the remarks he made from the bench Dec. 11.

''I can't comment on pending cases,'' he said. ``It was inappropriate for me to make the comments I made. A reasonable person could question my neutrality because of statements I made in open court.''

The judge did not single out a police department. More than three dozen agencies were part of the FTAA security effort. The Miami Police Department coordinated most police operations.

Angel Calzadilla, executive assistant to Miami Police Chief John Timoney, said: ``The chief's not going to comment on something this vague. If the judge would like to file a complaint with the CIP [Citizens Investigative Panel] he can do that like any other citizen.''

Nelda Fonticiella, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, which had a large presence during the protests, also said the judge can file a complaint. ''It would be our hope and expectation that if this is how he feels, that he would recuse himself from those cases,'' she said.

Margolius had been hearing the cases of Joseph Diamond and Danielle Kilroy, both arrested during the FTAA protests. Diamond had been charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, a felony; the charges were dropped by the state at the Dec. 11 hearing.

RESISTING ARREST

Kilroy also faced felony charges -- battery on a police officer and resisting arrest with violence. Her charges were reduced to a single misdemeanor, resisting arrest without violence, according to members of the Miami Activist Defense, a legal group monitoring the court hearings.

During the Dec. 11 hearings, the judge asked an assistant state attorney, ``How many police officers have been charged by the State Attorney so far for what happened out there during the FTAA?''

None, the prosecutor replied.

''None?'' asked the judge. ``Pretty sad commentary. At least from what I saw.''

The judge also wondered aloud how much the ''whole episode'' had cost taxpayers.

''I know one thing. There were police officers from every agency -- I couldn't believe the sheer numbers,'' he said.

Laurel Ripple, a protester who was arrested and is working with MAD, said she was in the courtroom during Margolius' remarks.

''I'm really glad he saw for himself what was happening . . . I'm really glad he was out there,'' she said. ``As a lifelong Miami resident and victim of the police during the FTAA, it was really supportive to hear that kind of affirmation from Judge Margolius.''

The FTAA summit, Nov. 20 and 21, sparked marches and protests in downtown Miami and resulted in 231 arrests. Since then, at least 27 misdemeanors have been dropped, according to prosecutors' records last updated Dec. 2. Additional cases have been dropped or the charges reduced, according to MAD members.

Two citizens' panels plan to hold a joint meeting Jan. 15 to hear comments and complaints about police conduct during the FTAA, and both Miami-Dade and Miami police are conducting internal reviews. Amnesty International, the AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers of America all have called for independent probes.

A Miami police spokeswoman said officers were instructed to make arrests only as necessary.

MIAMI POLICE

''We were told to deal with situations that were serious but we were always told to be very patient with people,'' said Herminia ''Amy'' Salas-Jacobson, a Miami police spokeswoman.

``In the training sessions we were told to be professional, be patient and to do everything right. There was one thing that was stressed at every meeting: Always be professional.''

During Margolius' informal speech, he noted that he couldn't recognize officers because ``everybody had riot gear on.''

''I hope the state has the good, common sense to deal with these cases in an appropriate manner, with an eye on justice,'' he added.

Herald staff writer Charles Rabin contributed to this report.

Jeb Bush's goon squads did a great job attacking protesters and firing rubber bullets at journalists.

I also have a recording from a WJNO reporter who was shot three times at point blank range by police.

****ing fascists

[DinoDoc]

I wasn't aware they called out the State Police. I thought only the Miami police were involved.

[Harry Tuttle]

Yeah, it must have been a reaction from the WTO protests in Seattle where the protesters trained for months for a battle and then did a few million in damages to independent business store fronts - just because the could. They are such wonderful, peace loving people, why would the police want to do a Chicago 1968 on them??? Makes you just wonder...

[Sava]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
I wasn't aware they called out the State Police. I thought only the Miami police were involved.

AFAIK, it was state police, some country sheriffs, and locals...

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Sava
AFAIK, it was state police, some country sheriffs, and locals...

I don't see that in the article. Only the Miami police are mentioned.

[Sava]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
I don't see that in the article. Only the Miami police are mentioned.

I read about it in an earlier article and saw it on various cable news... sorry I assumed most people reading this would have some previous knowledge of the events in question.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Sava
I read about it in an earlier article and saw it on various cable news... sorry I assumed most people reading this would have some previous knowledge of the events in question.

It's OK Sava. I realize that you are an idiot that likes to pull things from your ass but you don't have to get pissy when people ask questions.

[Q Classic]

more power to the police. wto protesters are all loons anyhow.

[Soul Survivor]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
more power to the police. wto protesters are all loons anyhow.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
more power to the police. wto protesters are all loons anyhow.

I hope this is a joke.

[Sava]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
It's OK Sava. I realize that you are an idiot that likes to pull things from your ass but you don't have to get pissy when people ask questions.

oh I'm an idiot... but only because I make the mistake of thinking dopes can find out information for themselves and don't need me to spoon feed it for them...

[Az]

I have a great idea for a troll now.

[Q Classic]

more power to rah and mtg. ming and ur are both loons anyhow.

[Dis]

yeah judges know how it feels to be a cop under attack

[Ned]

Sava, does it make any difference to you that the anarchists did not have a permit and did not obey lawful orders of the police?

[Lars-E]

I was watching channel 7 during the riots. I was shocked by all the bias from the reporters against the demonstrators.

[GePap]

I don;t get the comments here- if the police overstepped their bounds and committed croimes, they must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law-
The police are in charge of keeping the law-criminality on their part is WORSE than from citizens (specially given that no one here who badmouths the protestors has whon anything to prove they were being violent) given that it does far more damage to the system.

Sad that most opf the comments on this thread have been so dismissive- perfect way to undermine democracy- by letting the state violate people's rights just cause you decide they are "loons".

[debeest]

Here's my own experience at a demonstration against the U.S.-induced Honduran bombing of Nicaragua back around 1986: the police said "alright, everyone out of this area we've encircled, and we're going to arrest everyone who doesn't leave," so I left the area, and then a cop came up behind me and grabbed me and threw me through the line of linked-hands police officers into the arrest area. I was arrested, spent the afternoon at the jail, and then all of us were released because there had been no basis for the arrests in the first place.

I didn't need a permit, and I followed police orders completely. I violated no law except the law that "thou shalt not voice thy opinion in front of the police."

Many of my friends and acquaintances have participated in many different demonstrations over the years, specifically including the WTO demonstrations that have been labeled "violent" "riots." What these knowledgeable and honest people have told me is that consistently, the police initiate almost all of the violence, usually with no provocation and no legal basis for it.

Now the police have developed the habit of singling out those who bring video equipment, beating them, and stealing or destroying their equipment. Do the police do this because the people recording police behavior are committing criminal acts, or because the police are committing criminal acts they don't want recorded?

[Q Classic]

more power to the police. ming and ur are loons anyhow.

[Ned]

debeest, I think that you did not understand the police order since you were obviously very close to the police lines.

I also think the general order is to disperse because the demonstration is illegal. What I have seen is cops and crowds of demonstrators confronting one another. What the demonstrators are doing is clearly illegal.

[debeest]

Ned, you seem to assume that I'm stupid. Please don't insult my intelligence just because you have no basis for argument. The police order was very clear and explicit: "Those who remain inside this police circle will be arrested. If you don't want to be arrested, step outside the circle." I stepped out of the circle and was at least ten feet away from it (and it couldn't have been any clearer where "in" and "out" were). This cop had to grab me and forcibly drag me over to the circle and, quite literally, throw me THROUGH the linked arms of his colleagues into the circle.

The order was not to "disperse." Why act as if you know what happened to me? You weren't there, I don't think. The order was specifically directed at restoring access through the main doors of the Federal Building in San Francisco, not at making us go away. There was nothing illegal about the demonstration. Why are you assuming that the demonstration was illegal? Do you think all demonstrations are automatically illegal? Are you unaware that demonstrating is a right guaranteed by the Constitution? The police didn't even suggest that the demonstration was illegal, only the blocking of doors, and I was 100 feet away from the doors.

What makes you think that every time cops and demonstrators are face to face the demonstrators are doing something illegal? At the Port of Oakland about a year ago, with no provocation whatsoever, the police started shooting not only demonstrators, but longshore workers simply going to work, and bystanders. It got extensive coverage in the Oakland Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury, and surely many other papers. It's not only my own acquaintances who document this stuff, sometimes even the media cover it (and I assure you these are not wild radical newspapers).

How much time have you spent at demonstrations observing the behavior of the demonstrators and the police?

[Oerdin]

If this judge was taking part in the protests then he is an interested party and shouldn't be hearing the case. He's valuable as a witness but proffessionally he should be seporated from it.

[Boris Godunov]

The NYC police pulled the same crap at the anti-war protests here. I was on the cell phone with a friend who was at the demonstrations (a Republican, btw, who wasn't protesting) as a policeman tried to crush him and his friends with his horse. And in NYC, the protestors weren't breaking any laws or behaving badly. It was really a peaceful, organized gathering. But the police were dicks.

[Tripledoc]

FTAA

MAD

AFL-CIO

Isn't excessive acrynomization a sign of increasing militarism?

[Japher]

Joke:

President Bush was trying to decide which organization to send out to hunt down Osama Bin Laden. He gathered the CIA, the FBI, and the NYPD and realeased a rabbit into the wood.

The FBI went first, after days of searching they produced a shoe and what looked to be white lint, but no rabbit.

The CIA went next and slashed and burned the entire forest, but no rabbit was produced.

The NYPD entered the woods, and 2 hours later emerged with a bear all beaten and bludgeoned.

Bush asked, "What is this?!"

The Bear replied, "I'm a rabbit."

[GePap]

I am always amazed how people are willing to utterly ignore the right to protest if the people don;t happen to be protesting what they support- it seems so much easier than ignoring the right of speech, given that so much more goes into protests and you can always take the line that you are a lazy bastard who would never get of his butt to actually protest, so let the cops do whatever they want to people.

[Sava]

Originally posted by Ned
Sava, does it make any difference to you that the anarchists did not have a permit and did not obey lawful orders of the police?

I didn't realize the first amendment required a permit...

I can send you the audio tape of journalists getting shot by the riot police... as described on the tape... the police were converging on the journalists from 4 sides, each side telling them to go to the other side... trapped, and nowhere to go, the police started firing rubber bullets on UNARMED JOURNALISTS WHO WERE TRYING TO REPORT THE ****ING NEWS

DON"T GIVE ME YOUR BULL **** NED! YOU WEEREn"T THERE AND EVERYTHING YOU KNOW YOU HEARD ON THE NAZI TV NETOWRK FOX NEWS

GET A CLUE!

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Ned
debeest, I think that you did not understand the police order since you were obviously very close to the police lines.

I also think the general order is to disperse because the demonstration is illegal. What I have seen is cops and crowds of demonstrators confronting one another. What the demonstrators are doing is clearly illegal.

Do you remember the civil rights marches from the 60s? You remember Martin Luther King Jr.? Selma and Birmingham, and all the others. The situation was no different there. The police were merely dispersing illegal demonstrators. When these demonstrators choose to disobey a direct and lawful order to dispurse then it was the officer's right to dispurse them by whatever means they had at their disposal. After all, it was the demonstrators who broke the law. No doubt many of these civil rights demonstrators 'resisted arrest' too, and deserved a few swift wacks with a club. And since the officers were outnumbered, it is just a matter of protecting their own safety that they turned the firehoses on the demonstrators.

But the damn ***** liberals from the 60s did not support Bull Connor and now we have this mess where any American thinks he can just walk down the street to express their views. What a world this has become. We need a lot more Bull Connors, and a lot less wussy reporters and judges being 'outraged' about excessive force. The police are only enforcing the law afterall.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by debeest
Here's my own experience at a demonstration against the U.S.-induced Honduran bombing of Nicaragua back around 1986: the police said "alright, everyone out of this area we've encircled, and we're going to arrest everyone who doesn't leave," so I left the area, and then a cop came up behind me and grabbed me and threw me through the line of linked-hands police officers into the arrest area. I was arrested, spent the afternoon at the jail, and then all of us were released because there had been no basis for the arrests in the first place.

I didn't need a permit, and I followed police orders completely. I violated no law except the law that "thou shalt not voice thy opinion in front of the police."

Thats exactly what happened here in DC. I forget which protest it was from (we've got so many) the protesters gathered in, I think it was Freedom Plaza (ironic, eh?) and from what I hear they weren't even protesting really. They were just sitting around, beating drums, resting, etc. The police encircled the park on all sides, issues the order to dispurse that anyone remaining in the park will be arrested, then anyone trying to leave was forced back into the park. A few hundred people were arrested.

[Oncle Boris]

Originally posted by Harry Tuttle
Yeah, it must have been a reaction from the WTO protests in Seattle where the protesters trained for months for a battle and then did a few million in damages to independent business store fronts - just because the could. They are such wonderful, peace loving people, why would the police want to do a Chicago 1968 on them??? Makes you just wonder...

I thought you were innocent until found guilty. Nothing has been destroyed except protesters' rights here.

Trial on the street by the police itself? Sounds like a new kind of justice to me. Be proud of your country, dude.