Judge: RivCo Sheriff's to Show Plans from "Occupy" Arrests

An Indio judge has ordered the Riverside County Sheriff's Department to turn over its operational plan for the on suspicion of camping illegally in Palm Desert's Civic Center Park as part of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge David B. Downing made the ruling Wednesday at a hearing for five people charged in connection with the October protest.

Jack Lee Noftsger III, 27, Mary Elizabeth Walker, 22, Dustin David
Powell, 29, and Stephen Mark Finger, 58, all of Palm Desert, and Palm Springs
resident Ryan Donald Cartwright, 21, all pleaded not guilty in January to
unlawful assembly. Cartwright also pleaded not guilty to two counts of
resisting arrest. All were free on their own recognizance.

Gale Wheat, 66, of Indio pleaded guilty in February to an infraction for
staying in a Palm Desert park past curfew and was ordered to pay a $125 fine.

Sheriff's deputies arrested the defendants on . Deputy Public Defender Roger Tansey, who represents some of the
defendants, said sheriff's officials had previously refused to turn over the
operational plan for that night.

At the hearing, Deputy District Attorney John Rodnick also asked
Downing to impose a gag order on the defendants about the plan, which outlines the logistics of a law enforcement operation. Downing denied Rodnick's request, saying he could not enforce such a gag order, according to court records.

Downing also granted defense attorneys' request for the names of deputies present during the arrests, according to court records.

The five defendants are due back in court for a hearing June 6, where
attorneys may set a trial date, Tansey said.

Members of the group had been in the park , participating
in the nationwide Occupy movement, intended to draw attention to what
demonstrators argue is the growing gap between rich and poor. The defendants were arrested by deputies sent to the park to enforce the 11 p.m. curfew on Nov. 1, sheriff's Lt. Andrew Shouse said.

The group was granted temporary use permits by the city over four days
in the last week of October, which allowed them to stay overnight in the park.
The city declined to issue another permit at the end of the week, and sheriff's
deputies asked the protesters to leave.

"Most of the subjects relocated to the sidewalk upon our arrival,''
Shouse said then. "Seven subjects remained on the park property and were
arrested.''

Two more people were arrested an hour later after they entered the park
"in defiance of officers who were securing the scene,'' Shouse said. Another
woman was arrested later that night, he said.

City attorney Robert Hargreaves previously said the city supports the
group's First Amendment rights, but could not allow the park to be used as a
campground for an extended period of time.

"By providing Occupy Coachella Valley with a highly visible, dry,
shaded space with 24-hour access to restrooms, the city accommodated the
group's First Amendment rights while protecting public health and safety and
the rights of our residents and visitors to continue using Civic Center Park,''
according to a city statement.