Judge dismisses charges in first FTAA-related jury trial
Judge Beth Bloom granted a defense motion to
acquit yesterday in the first jury trial stemming from Free Trade Area
of the Americas (FTAA) protests of November 2003
Miami, FL -- Charges were dismissed
in Dade County Court yesterday in the first jury trial to occur since
last November's Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) protests. The
defendant, Gan Golan, 30, a graduate student at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), was arrested on Friday, November 21, 2003 and
originally charged with "failure to obey a police order" and "resisting
arrest without violence."
After hearing testimony and evidence
from both sides, Judge Beth Bloom granted the second motion for a
judgment of acquittal and dismissed the charges. Bloom ruled that no
reasonable juror could convict Golan based on the evidence presented.
Public Defenders Philip Kim and Barbara Ho represented Golan and put
forward the motion after the defense finished their case, but before the
jury deliberated.
After the ruling, Golan commented,
"It is not the FTAA protestors that should be on trial--it's the police.
'Law enforcement' not only not only assaulted a group of non-violent
citizens exercising their first amendment rights, but also trampled on
the Constitution. As Miami Court Judge Margolius commented in another
case," continued Golan. "The police should be facing charges."
Golan was arrested along with over
sixty other people attending a peaceful vigil in front of the Miami-Dade
County Jail. Over 200 people had gathered at the jail that Friday to
show solidarity for those arrested and attacked by police the previous
day. The crowd was not only restricted from peacefully assembling, but
was brutally assaulted with pepper spray and forcefully pushed to the
ground by numerous riot police.
Golan's arresting officer, Juan Leon,
and Lt. Jeffrey Schmidinger, who allegedly issued the order to disperse
prior to the arrest, both testified in court. Testimony by the Metro
Dade police officers' directly contradicted each other as well as other
evidence presented by the defense. Contrary to prior reports by police,
Schmidinger testified, under oath, that the police moved in on the
hundreds of assembled protestors before the announced time given for
them to disperse from the area. Schmidinger is listed in numerous
FTAA-related arrests reports as the officer who gave the dispersal
order.
"The fact that the prosecution's case
did not hold up in court is certainly telling," said Golan. "But being
acquitted does not solve the problem of how and why the police violated
all of our rights. The defense has won its case, but unless we can stop
this behavior from happening on the streets of Miami and other cities
around the nation, the police will remain able to perpetrate their
misconduct against others."
Golan is on full scholarship to MIT and a research assistant at the Program
for Human Rights and Justice at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
His course of study involves Global Trade and International
Development, issues at the heart of the debate around the controversial
FTAA meetings.
--030-- |