November 16, 2010

Drop the Charges! Nov. 5 Legal Update

By Oakland 100 Support Committee

This is a legal update for the protests following last Nov. 5th, Johannes Mehserle’s sentencing for the murder of Oscar Grant.

152 people were arrested, in a mass arrest around E 17th street and 6th avenue in Oakland. Most were given the charge PC 408, a misdemeanor of Unlawful Assembly. A few people were additionally charged with PC 407, misdemeanor Unlawful Assembly, and a few people were charged with PC 602 (L), misdemeanor Trespassing. One person was booked on Arson charges, but has not gone to court yet. It is unclear what the charges from that arrest will be.

There were allegations that a protester grabbed an officer’s gun holster on the evening of Nov. 5, but no one has been charged for that offense. There has been no facts to support for that story’s merit, to our knowledge.

Arraignments will be in the first week of December, all in Dept. 107 at Wiley Manuel Courthouse, 661 Washington Street. Court support is encouraged.
The schedule for arraignment has:
8 people on 12/2
12 people on 12/3
120 people on 12/6.

Six people remained in custody over the weekend and five of them had arraignments on 11/9. Of those folks, the Oakland 100 Support Committee was able to bail two of them out. Of the people arraigned so far, most protest related charges have been dropped but some are being held on prior warrants. Two people remain in custody as of 11/14/10.

More legal support is needed. For donations, go to https://supporttheoakland100.wordpress.com/supportdonate/.

Inside the jail at Glenn Dyer jail (North County), there were a number of concerns with arrestee’s treatment. Many people were denied adequate medical treatment for injuries relating to police brutality during arrest, but also for preexisting medical problems exacerbated by a lack of care while in custody.
Many people were denied food for over 12 hours.
One person was beaten badly by Sheriff guards while in Glenn Dyer.
Also, at least one person was given a swab for DNA testing, which is a protocol used for folks accused of felonies, but not acceptable practice for misdemeanor charges.

The National Lawyer’s Guild, Legal Support for the Oakland Assembly and the Oakland 100 Support Committee denounces the excessive amount of law enforcement and brutality to protesters. There were more than eleven police and law enforcement agencies in Oakland. The people of Oakland have a right to express their
outrage at a justice system that gives a token slap on the wrist to an officer who was videotaped murdering an unarmed black man in the back.

Justice for Oscar Grant and now, Derrick Jones.

In solidarity,
Members of the National Lawyer’s Guild Demonstrations Committee, Legal Support for the Oakland Assembly and the Oakland 100 Support Committee

About Oakland 100 Support Committee

The Oakland 100 Support Committee (O100) came together after the rebellions in January 2009 against the police murder of Oscar Grant III. Since then we have worked along side arrestees to raise awareness about their cases. Through several successful benefits we raised over 4000 dollars for the 3 people that had felony cases. To this date none of them served any jail time. We produced a short documentary entitled “Hands Off Oakland Rebels” and participated in the “Drop the Charges” campaign. With the recent news of killer cop, Johannes Mesherle’s lenient sentence of involuntary manslaughter Oakland erupted again in rage. That night close to 100 protesters were arrested and 12 people are still being held in jail and facing trumped up felony charges. We are interested in working with arrestees, their friends, and families to craft what support means to them. For Information on how to befriend us in the struggle, or to send donations to arrestees write us a note at: oakland100 [at] gmail.com Oakland 100 Support Committee PO Box 22449 Oakland, CA 94609 View all posts by Oakland 100 Support Committee
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 7:20 am and posted in Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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