Eleven members of the Occupy D.C. movement on Thursday were found guilty for varying charges related to a day-long standoff in early December over a wooden structure built in a park.
Nearly all of the 14 total defendents charged were found guilty of failure to obey orders during an emergency, and sentenced by Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Wingo to pay between $50 and $150 to the Crime Victims Compensation program.
One man was also found guilty for lewd, indecent or obscene acts and was sentenced to 24-hours of community service, one year of unsupervised probation, and pay a total of $300 in fines.
Two people were issued bench warrants for not appearing for their court date, and a young woman was acquitted.
Attorney Jeffrey Light, who represented all of the defendents, said Judge Wingo was “very thoughtful” and “recognized that people were not trying to do anything wrong,” but added he would be filing an appeal.
D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan said in a statement that while his office respects the occupiers’ free speech rights, “they crossed the line,” when they refused to leave the wooden structure after a city inspector declared it dangerous.
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Meredith Somers is a Metro reporter for The Washington Times. She can be reached at msomers@washingtontimes.com.
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