From Boston.com: http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/02/08/charges-against-occupy-boston-protesters-dropped/nFgGqfEwh758o2QHs5TrPP/story.html
By Peter Schworm
02/08/2013
Suffolk County prosecutors Friday dropped the case against more than two dozen protesters arrested during the Occupy Boston demonstrations, but at least five defendants will contest the dismissal in hopes of fighting the accusations on their merits.
“Our clients feel that they deserve a day in court to contest their arrests on constitutional grounds,” said Jeff Feuer, of the National Lawyers Guild, which is defending the demonstrators. “They were using a public park.”
Feuer said the October 2011 arrests, which came as the demonstration swelled beyond its original boundaries in Dewey Square, violated the protesters’ rights of assembly and free speech under the state’s constitution. The five protesters were scheduled to go on trial Monday, but instead will appear in Boston Municipal Court to contest the dismissal, which would end the legal proceedings against the protesters.
A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said prosecutors decided to resolve the cases because the defendants had abided by certain restrictions imposed by the court for more than a year. Other protesters charged with trespassing and unlawful assembly had agreed to similar conditions in resolving their cases.
“There’s now parity with prior cases arising from the protests,” Jake Wark said. “They’ve served essentially the same sentences.”
Continue reading at: http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/02/08/charges-against-occupy-boston-protesters-dropped/nFgGqfEwh758o2QHs5TrPP/story.html
