NLG Massachusetts Executive Director Urszula Masny-Latos is arrested while legal observing during a raid on Occupy Boston.
By Jeffrey Feuer, Massachusetts Chapter Mass Defense Coordinator
Reprinted from the December issue of Mass Dissent
Boston’s Mass Defense Committee (MDC) had an extremely busy quarter. Prior to the beginning of the 99% movement, groups including City Life/Vida Urbana, Chelsea Collaborative, and the Springfield No One Leaves Project all sought the Guild’s assistance to provide Civil Disobedience and Legal Observer® training. The MDC successfully defended activists arrested at a number of eviction blockades in the Greater Boston area.
That work culminated with the defense of 24 people arrested September 30, 2011, at a large Right to the City march, which many Guild members attended as Legal Observers®. When the several thousand–person march reached the Bank of America headquarters in Boston’s financial district, 24 demonstrators were arrested blocking the entrances in a concerted act of civil disobedience. All were charged with criminal trespass and many of them spent long hours in custody until their eventual release on bail. When they appeared in Boston Municipal Court the next week for arraignment on the criminal charge of trespass and volunteer MDC attorneys were there to represent them.
We were able to negotiate a very favorable resolution for all of the arrestees—18 of them had a criminal trespass charged converted into a civil infraction for which they were found “responsible” and ordered to pay a fine of zero dollars. The remaining six arrestees also had their criminal charges converted into a civil infraction for which they were found “responsible,” and their fines were a mere $50 each. In the end, none of the arrestees incurred a criminal charge, the cases were completely disposed of that day, and no restrictions were placed on their participation in any future protests. This was an extremely successful outcome for one of the largest demonstrations in Boston in years.
The largest, that is, until early October, when attention turned toward Occupy Boston (OB), which began the same week. Early on, the Guild provided legal support through the on-site OB Legal Working Group.
A few weeks in, on the first night of the occupation’s expansion to a neighboring park, the mass arrest of over 140 further galvanized the MDC. It probably helped that Massachusetts Executive Director Urszula Masny-Latos, who served as a Legal Observer® that night,was among the arrested. Again when the arrestees were arraigned, MDC attorneys were there to represent the demonstrators. Most were offered a very reasonable deal—either dismissal of the charges pre-arraignment or conversion of the criminal charges into a civil infraction, both contingent on payment of $50 court costs or a fine. The vast majority of the 140+ OB arrestees took this deal, but a committed group of approximately 25 people rejected the offer and have chosen to challenge their arrests by proceeding to trial. A group of MDC attorneys will be representing those defendants.
Following the arrests, the MDC created seven different task groups to better coordinate support for Occupy and future protests in Massachusetts. The task groups include hotline, arraignments, Know Your Rights and Civil Disobedience trainings, Legal Observer® coordination, criminal defense, and civil litigation. Since then, the MDC has been going full-steam ahead on OB projects. Working closely with the ACLU, Guild attorney Howard Cooper is heading a team of attorneys who at press time had obtained a temporary restraining order in place for three weeks pending a third hearing on broader injunctive relief. The Guild office hotline has been in use 24 hours a day fielding legal questions and arranging legal representation for arrested occupiers. Guild attorneys have been present for every occupier arraignment in both Boston and Worcester. The Criminal Defense group is currently planning trial strategy for the 21 OB demonstrators who still wish to go to trial. Information and evidence is being gathered to prepare civil lawsuits on behalf of individual protestors who were injured (including a broken wrist) during arrests, and a class action on behalf of all the demonstrators who had personal property destroyed by the police during the October 10 mass arrests. Guild members are also helping facilitate conversations with city agencies.