Occupy Court Updates: More Cases Dismissed, Librarians Sue Over Destroyed Books (by: Allison Kilkenny)

http://www.thenation.com/blog/168130/occupy-court-updates-more-cases-dismissed-librarians-sue-over-destroyed-books

OWS vs. The City of New York

It's been more than eight months since the NYPD started arresting Occupy Wall Street activists, and yet the first cases have only now reached the court system for trial.

That glacial process is one of many reasons would-be activists are scared off from OWS-like demonstrations. Many don't have months to set aside strictly to fight legal battles due to obligations like jobs, school and/or caring for their children.

Yet, for those who have chosen, or been forced into, a situation where they did have to face down the NYPD in court, OWS has been accumulating many victories.

The whole witnesses-not-showing phenomenon has become an ongoing problem for the NYPD.

Yesterday, Sarah Maceda-Maciel, who had been charged with blocking traffic and failing to follow police orders on November 17, also had her case dismissed after a police witness failed to show.

Another case scheduled for trial yesterday resulted in the same outcome: another missing witness, so Emmet Kavanaugh of Philadelphia and his legal team will have to return to court in late October when maybe the witness will show up.

This morning, the largest group of OWS cases (twenty-two cases) come to trial, and will be consolidated into four trials in Jury Part 7, the special section of the New York City Criminal Court created to solely handle Occupy-related cases. Today's cases all stem from the first mass arrests on September 24 of last year, the same day Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna pepper-sprayed peaceful demonstrators, Pinto notes.

Meanwhile, the OWS librarians have sued New York City in federal court over the destruction of the much-loved OWS library, which included thousands of books, during a late-night raid at Zuccotti. (OWS library October 26, 2011, photo by Allison Kilkenny)

The suit names Mayor Bloomberg, police commissioner Ray Kelly and sanitation commissioner John Doherty.

According to the lawsuit (filed late last week), the city confiscated 3,600 books on November 15, 2011, but the city only returned 1,003 of the books.