Defense Testimony Expected as 'Occupy' Trial Resumes

Defense testimony is expected to get under way today in the trial of three Palm Desert residents accused of illegal activity connected with last fall's Occupy Coachella Valley protests.

On Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Larrie Brainard dismissed a charge of unlawful assembly against Stephen Mark Finger, 59, one of
the original defendants. His attorney, Aimee Larsen, submitted a motion arguing
there was insufficient evidence against her client, and the judge agreed.
The remaining defendants -- Jack Lee Noftsger, 28, Dustin David Powell,
32, and Mary Elizabeth Walker, 23 -- could face fines and jail time if
convicted of the misdemeanor charge, which stems from a law enforcement sweep at Palm Desert's Civic Center Park on Nov. 1.

Last week, sheriff's Capt. Andrew Shouse testified that he led a squad
of deputies into the park shortly after midnight to remove the Occupy
protesters, who remained in defiance of an 11 p.m. city curfew order.

Shouse said the first person he encountered was Walker, who was standing
on a patch of grass, observing the deputies. Because she did not disperse as
directed, the captain said he and another deputy detained her.

Another prosecution witness, Deputy Grant Grasso, testified that he
arrested Powell on a paved section of the park, near San Pascual Avenue. Grasso testified that the protesters had been given ``multiple warnings'' to leave the area prior to deputies sweeping the grounds.

Attorneys for the defendants all pressed witnesses for the exact
locations of where their clients were standing and the basis for their arrests
at the time. Shouse and Grasso both confirmed the defendants were inside the
park.

Trial proceedings at the Riverside Hall of Justice in downtown Riverside
seemed dizzying at times as the defendants, seated behind their attorneys,
frequently jumped out of their chairs to confer with them, while the attorneys
raised a variety of objections.

The trial was moved to Riverside because of a lack of courtroom
availability in the Coachella Valley.

The defendants, free on their own recognizance, were affiliated with the
national Occupy Wall Street movement, decrying the disparities between rich
and poor. Noftsger was the chief spokesman for the Palm Desert faction,
according to testimony.

The group established itself in Civic Center Park on Oct. 24. It was
granted temporary use permits by the city over four days in the last week of
that month, which allowed members to stay overnight in the public square. The
city, however, declined to issue another permit, and sheriff's deputies asked
the protesters to leave. Most complied.

Co-defendant Ryan Donald Cartwright of Palm Springs pleaded guilty last
month to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace and was sentenced to
three years probation and 40 hours of community service.

Gale Wheat of Indio, who was also arrested in connection with the protest, pleaded guilty in February to an infraction for staying in the park past curfew and was fined $125.