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The office of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has just distributed a summary of Occupy members charged, sentenced or awaiting a resolution of their arrests in the Nov. 30 raid outside City Hall. Here's the highlights:
- On December 17, six Occupy LA Protesters were arrested after entering the fenced off park at City Hall. Bethania Palma, Shaimaa Abdelhamid, Karolina Szymanska and Elena Brown were each charged with three trespassing-related counts. Palma entered a guilty plea and was placed on 18 months probation, ordered to serve 20 days in jail or perform 10 days of Caltrans work, and stay away from the City Hall Park. A pre-trial hearing is set for the others in January.
- On November 30, LAPD arrested 291 individuals around City Hall and nearby locations, "who were part of the Occupy LA encampment." [Editor's note: Some were not part of the Occupy camp, including City News Service reporter Calvin Milam.] More:
On December 1 and 2, LAPD submitted a total of 233 cases to the City Attorney’s Office for filing consideration. Fifty-one cases have been filed to-date. In one of those cases, Defendant Gilbert Ceballos was convicted of failure to disperse from the intersection of 1st and Broadway and sentenced to 18 months probation, 10 days of community service and ordered to stay away from City Hall during the term of his probation.The remainder of the Occupy LA cases are either under filing consideration by the City Attorney’s Office or eligible for a pre-filing diversion program administered by American Justice Associates, an organization used by the City Attorney’s Office since 1995. In this program, participants pay a fee and complete a violation-based curriculum, including a presentation on the balancing of the public’s rights against individual free speech rights. The City Attorney's Office may file against those indiviudals who fail to complete the diversion program or re-offend within one year.