Case dismissed.

[unhappycamper]

The Boston Veterans Day 17 had their day in court this morning. (Here's a little reading if you're not familiar with the case.)

When the first veteran was called, our attorney stood up and said he represented all of us, so the judge allowed him to call us by name. As our names were called, we walked up to the railing and stood shoulder to shoulder. All of us.

The District Attorney for the City of Boston made a motion to the judge to turn this case into a civil case. That means the case would be heard by a judge with no jury.

Our attorney said "Your Honor, we think this case should be dismissed."

Before he got another sentence out, the judge said "I concur." There was a smattering of applause in the courtroom.

After control was regained, our attorney asked if the one case that was continued to January 10 could also be included in this dismissal. The judge agreed.

And thus ended our criminal proceedings.


To celebrate, about a dozen of us went to Mayor Menino's office and asked to speak with him. We told the nice young lady at the desk we would like to ask the Mayor to have Boston's Veterans Day parade held and controlled by the City of Boston. The Mayor wasn't in but the nice young lady said she would have someone call us.

Mission Accomplished. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[babylonsister]

1. BRAVO, uhc!

:applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: Good job; it should never have gone this far!

[Pab Sungenis]

2. K & Freakin' R!

Congratulations! There is still good sense and justice somewhere out there.

[IndyOp]

3. .

:applause: :patriot: :applause: :patriot: :applause: :patriot: :applause: :patriot:

Thank you for your service to our nation with Veterans Against the War!

[zabet]

4. Excellent!!!

:woohoo:
:applause:
:patriot:

[fed-up]

5. Congratulations!!! nt

[Kadie]

6. Wonderful News!!

:woohoo:

[immoderate]

7. Fitting that our veterans should defend peace!

--IMM

[lynnertic]

8. IMO it's the whole point of being a veteran

to defend peace.

Congratulations UnhappyCamper! I'm proud.

[SoCalDem]

9. Great news...but... "they" still won

since they interrupted your attempt to demonstrate peacefully and lawfully, they took valuable time away from you and ended up forcing you to defend yourselves for something that was not illegal...probably cost you all some money too....and you missed some of the event you planned to attend..

Declaring it all an "oops-nevermind", LATER..still harms you and your rights..

[unhappycamper]

14. Well, a top-notch Boston criminal attorney was working for us pro-bono.

We made our point on Veterans Day when we were arrested and we made our point in court today.

We are fighting for our rights. Everyday.

[immoderate]

16. And what happens next year?

Will you be able to march? I would think this decision would favor that.

--IMM

[unhappycamper]

There's a few things we can do.

I'd rather not go into specifics.

[immoderate]

19. Understood. Power to you, our true defenders.

:patriot:

--IMM

[kas125]

10. Congrats and thank you!

That is good news. Thank you for doing what you do, Boston VFP. It's also good to know that at least there is one judge in this country with some scruples left.

[TwilightZone]

11. Excellent news.

And, the only reasonable outcome. I'm glad that someone finally showed some common sense.

[HughMoran]

12. Great news - K&R n/t

[flashl]

13. Great news.

[blm]

15. Salute.

.

[porphyrian]

17. I'll kick that. -n/t

[unhappycamper]

18. And the press release that just went out:

Charges Against Veterans Day 18 Dismissed, No Court Costs

BOSTON –– The charge of disturbing a lawful assembly was dismissed today with no payment of court costs in Boston Municipal Court against 15 veterans, members of Veterans For Peace, and 3 supporters, who were arrested on Veterans Day.

"It was a travesty that veterans were arrested on Veterans Day for attempting to exercise their First Amendment right of free speech," said Nate Goldshlag, an U.S. Army veteran and co-coordinator of the Smedley D. Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 of Veterans For Peace. "Our messages of peace and against the Iraq war were silenced by the American Legion, who runs the Veterans Day events. The city needs to take control of the parade and allow all veterans to speak, regardless of their political views. We will press for this with Mayor Menino."

The Veterans Day 18 were standing silently, with gags through their mouths and with signs that said "American Legion SILENCES Messages of Peace From Veterans" in front of a raised podium on City Hall Plaza on November 11 when they were arrested. A request to have a speaker at the event was denied by the American Legion, in spite of a City Council hearing called by Boston City Councillor Chuck Turner and two other councillors titled "Isn't Veterans Day For All Veterans?" In addition, Veterans For Peace was relegated to march behind the street sweepers in order to not be in the official Veterans Day parade, despite it being the single largest veterans contingent.

"The charges were absurd, and we view this as a victory for antiwar people everywhere. The police claimed we were "loudly chanting" when we had gags on. We disturbed nothing except perhaps the leaders of the Legion. The event could have gone on. People could see the podium above us." Goldshlag said. "We are not going away. Veterans For Peace and its message must be heard. We intend to pursue this with Mayor Menino and the City Council."

[iamthebandfanman]

20. glad to hear! n/t

[Ignis]

21. Congrats!

I was in Boston just before the Vet's day parade--I'm sorry I missed it.

[Highway61]

22. That's awesome.....

:patriot: So proud of all of you!

[unhappycamper]

23. And a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YnwXHBxD9s&eurl=http://www.capecodpeaceandjustice.org/


I am proud to know these men and women.

[Hissyspit]

24. Cheers.

:patriot:

[spag68]

25. Vets.

Next year maybe you can put up a reminder before vets day, and all vets anywhere near Boston can come and participate with you. I live on Long Island and I know I can make it.

[bluerum]

38. I concur!

[magellan]

26. Outstanding!

Congratulations and thank you!

[intheflow]

27. Hurray!! Doin' the happy dance for unhappycamper!

Congratulations, My Friend! :hi:

[SeattleGirl]

28. Congratulations!

Well done!


:applause: :applause: :applause:

[mogster]

29. Hey!

That's good news! :-)

[malaise]

30. As expected

Great enws.

[laylah]

31. Congratulations! nt

[windoe]

32. That last picture of the gagged veteran being arrested

is such a symbol of these times, the arresting officers almost look ashamed. I was deeply disturbed when I first saw this photo, and am relieved to hear that this case was dismissed. Thank you for standing up for our rights, and for fighting for this country.

[rug]

33. The state fears a jury.

[The Wizard]

34. Out fucking Standing (nt)

:toast: :bounce: :kick:

[lonestarnot]

35. I'd say puts the value back in the phrase mission accomplished!

Woot! :woohoo: fine works makes fine gains! BRAVFUCKINGO!

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. Awesome!!

I am so happy for you!!

:woohoo:

[sonias]

37. Congratulations unhappycamper!

I concur with the Judge who obviously knew the case had no merit. Oh happy day!
:applause:


Sonia

[caseycoon]

39. Hip hip HOORAY!!!!

This is truly wonderful!!
:woohoo:

[ghostdancers_way]

40. At least one Judge understands the 1 st Amendment

I am happy for all of you that the Constitution was upheld and
you were not criminalized for your actions.

I recently posted the Bill of Rights in My cubicle and was
amazed at the number of people who asked me what are those.  I
was dumbfounded that everyone of those individuals who did not
know these amendments had never read our Constitution.

As a Veteran I applaud your efforts to help get America out of
Bushivik's War to Resubjugate Brown people and steal their
resouces.

thank you for putting yourselves on the line.

Ghostdancers_way

[unhappycamper]

41. Thank you, Sir.

Welcome home, and welcome to DU.

[awoke_in_2003]

42. Welcome to DU

Ever since I took US Govt in college, I have carried a pocket size printing of the constitution. Our professor said we should all have a copy, how else do you know your rights and when the gov't is impeding them. You should see the looks I get when arguing with right wingers, I usually whip it out and tell them to show me where the constitution says what ever they are arguing. Shuts people up pretty quick.

[rasputin1952]

43. I had the feeling this might happen...

as I felt that the whole thing was an absurd use of a statute that, if on the books, should be taken off, and it could easily have risen to a First Amendment case if it proceeded further.

The DA had to be a complete jerk to think this would have gone anywhere, and I have the suspicion that this was discussed w/the judge before it came to being a case. The DA must also have known that the criminal aspect of the case would have gone badly for him/the court, and that is why he asked that the case be heard as a civil case.

Once again, I applaud all of you for standing up for the beliefs that many of us here have, if we could get the 72% of the population to do the same thing, this nation would be a far better place for all of us.

:patriot:

[horse_traderxx]

44. Spot on!

Spot on! Congratulations, unhappy camper!