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Indybay Feature

Oakland 100: Charges Dropped for 28 Misdemeanors Related to Oscar Grant Rebellion, 2/6/09: photos

by dave id
Over 130 people have been arrested in connection with protests surrounding the murder of Oscar Grant III. This morning, the first arraignments were to be held for over 30 people charged with misdemeanors and felonies at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland. Charges for 28 individuals charged with misdemeanors were dropped, while one person with a misdemeanor and two people with felonies are still facing their charges in court today. The next arraignments for those arrested in connection with the Oscar Grant Rebellion are February 9th, 13th, and 17th. The Oakland 100 Support Committee requests that supporters keep the pressure on until all charges are dropped.
oakland100-1_0206090902_1.jpg
Sadly, the line to get into the courthouse this morning, most of whom were not appearing related to the Oscar Grant Rebellion, was so long that it stretched around the block and it took over an hour for everyone to get into the building.
oakland100-3_0206090914_2.jpg
• Oakland 100 Support Committee
O100 is an all-volunteer group dedicated to connecting those facing charges with legal support, participating in a 'Drop the Charges' campaign, raising funds to assist arrestees and standing in solidarity with the larger movement against police violence. The group is composed of community members, arrestees, and allies.
oakland100 [at] gmail.com

• Critical Resistance
CR is a national grassroots organizations committed to ending society's use of prisons and policing as an answer to social problems.
http://www.criticalresistance.org

• National Lawyer's Guild San Francisco
Dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system, we seek to unite the lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers of America, to function as an effective political and social force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.
http://www.nlgsf.org
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Comments (Hide Comments)
by Not your attorney
First, all praise to those who showed up and provided coffee, banners, bodies outside and a courtroom presence inside for those who were arrested. As someone who has waited inside jail and inside courtrooms too many times, it makes a difference every time you see bodies in solidarity with you.

I'm not an attorney. But I have been arrested dozens of times and I did listen to the NLG attorney and his response to the follow-up questions outside the courthouse. My understanding is that the charges are not 'dropped', but rather that the state is not pursuing them at this time. This means that they can be reinstated for up to one year.
This is a victory and we should claim it, but this means that the district attorney can use those charges against people for up to a year if they are arrested again or if it proves convenient. If I am mis-stating this, then I hope that one of the NLG attorneys or Midnight Special legal collective will correct me.

I urge everyone who supports justice for Oscar Grant to show up for any and all hearings of those who have been arrested. Again, all praise to the National Lawyers Guild, Critical Resistance, the Oakland 100 Support Committee, Midnight Special and everyone else who was there in solidarity today.

Justice for Oscar Grant. Power to the People.
See you in the streets.

by ?
Not pursuing charges, charges dropped. Same diff. DA's can always decide to re-instate charges of any type in cases like these but the odds of that happening are next to nil unless authorities happen to run across some sort of new "evidence" against someone.

Those 28 folks are free of this.
by thanks
Some of the people with arraignment dates didn't get called, which means that they can be charged within a year. The rest of the folks who did get called had no charges pressed.

Good to see everyone out!
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