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Politics & Government

Two Found Guilty in 'Occupy' Trial

Jury acquits third defendant - all faced misdemeanor charges

Two of three people accused of illegally gathering in a Palm Desert park during last year's Occupy Coachella Valley protests were convicted Monday of unlawful assembly, despite their attorneys' arguments that the men were only exercising their First Amendment rights.

After less than two hours of deliberations, a Riverside jury found Jack
Lee Noftsger, 28, and Dustin David Powell, 32, guilty of the misdemeanor
charge. However, the panel acquitted the men's co-defendant, 23-year-old Mary
Elizabeth Walker.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Larrie Brainard ordered Noftsger
and Powell each to pay $500 in fines by Oct. 15. Neither man will have to serve
jail time.

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Charges were dismissed last week against a fourth defendant, Stephen
Mark Finger, 59, after his attorney successfully argued for a dismissal of the
allegation based on evidence that he was not actively involved in the protest
at the time of his arrest.

All the defendants were taken into custody during a sheriff's sweep of
Civic Center Park shortly after midnight on Nov. 1.

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The prosecution and defense made their closing statements this morning.

The District Attorney's Office argued the protesters were given ample
opportunity to depart the park after the city of Palm Desert refused to grant
another temporary permit for use of the grounds, as it had between Oct. 24 and Oct. 28, but some demonstrators wouldn't budge. According to prosecutors, by anchoring themselves in a public square as a group, the defendants constituted an unlawful assembly. However, their attorneys countered that the law enforcement operation was staged to frighten protesters away for good.

"This stealth police raid was an ambush,'' Mark Foster, Noftsger's attorney, told jurors. "They planned these arrests. They didn't want to go with a simple cite and release. If (authorities) had made a simple announcement telling my client and others to leave the area, would we be here today? No.''

The three Occupy protesters had remained in the park in defiance of an
11 p.m. city curfew order, according to testimony from the weeklong trial.
Deputy Grant Grasso testified that the protesters had been given ``multiple
warnings'' to leave before he and fellow deputies, led by then-Lt. Andrew
Shouse, conducted the sweep.

However, Foster and Deputy Public Defender Roger Tansey, representing
Powell and Walker, argued their clients were arrested for effect rather than
any act of real civil disobedience.

"They never declared an unlawful assembly, yet they turned right around
and arrested them for that,'' Tansey told jurors.

"This case is not just about government overreach; it's about government overkill. This was a police ambush on peaceful people. This is about
stifling dissent.''

Tansey said there was no "violence'' in the park until deputies began
making arrests, throwing people to the ground and handcuffing them. Noftsger, a former U.S. Marine and one of the Occupy Palm Desert organizers, had to be
awakened in his tent before deputies arrested him.

Pictures of Walker showed the young woman face down, offering no
resistance as she is handled by at least three deputies.

"They were getting ready to leave,'' Foster said.  "There was no
permanent occupation. And the police come along and conduct this crazy,
confusing, botched operation, sneaking up on people without making any
announcements.

"This case is about the letter of the law trumping the spirit of the
law. It's about making a mountain out of a molehill. Do we really want to live
in a state where the government throws the book at somebody for a technical
violation?''

The defendants were affiliated with the national Occupy Wall Street
movement, decrying income inequality and other social ills.

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