On Friday, October 22, 2004, four persons were
arrested by Santa Ana Police at an anti-police
brutality march held in conjunction with the National
Day of Protest against Police Brutality. Two persons
were taken into custody for allegedly obstructing a
police officer in the performance of his duties;
another two were arrested because they were carrying
bullhorns.
Since that time, two of these cases have been settled
in Orange County Superior Court. One protestor plead
guilty to a misdemeanor and was given a year of
informal probation, required to pay a small state
restitution fund fee, and do several hours of
community service; another person agreed to pay $350
as part of a "civil compromise" in return for the
criminal charge against them being dropped.
Naui Huitzilopochtli, one of the protestors arrested
by Santa Ana Police on October 22nd for carrying a
bullhorn, has decided to fight the criminal charge
pending against him. He has retained the services of
both Victor Cueto, Esq. and Ronald Talmo, Esq. -- the
latter being a prominent Orange County Civil Rights
Attorney -- to defend him in court.
The Santa Ana City Attorney's office is prosecuting
Huitzilopochtli for allegedly violating Section 10-153
of their Municipal Code which states in part that
"[i]t is unlawful for any person to cause, allow, or
permit the emission or transmission of any loud or
raucous noise from any sound-making or
sound-amplifying device in his possession or his
control".
In the trial brief that Naui's attorneys filed on his
behalf at his last court appearance, they argued that
the the Santa Ana City ordinance regulating the use of
a "sound-amplifying device" violates the First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because certain
provisions within it give the police too much power
and
discretion to decide how it should be enforced.
The case, People of California v. Naui Huitzilopochtli
(No. A61170), is currently scheduled to go to trial on
the morning of Tuesday, April 26, 2005 at 8:30 a.m. in
Department C-47, Central Justice Center, 700 Civic
Center Drive West, Santa Ana, California. As many
people as possible are being encouraged to attend this
trial.
Show your solidarity with Naui, who, like the three
other protestors on October 22nd, was arrested in a
capricious and arbitrary manner by Santa Ana Police
merely for exercising his First Amendment right to
free speech and expression during a non-violent
demonstration!
REMEMBER: AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!
By showing up to this trial, we'll be sending a strong
message to Santa Ana Police that we will no longer
tolerate them trampling all over our constitutional
rights!
TAKE A STAND TO DEFEND CIVIL LIBERTIES!
For more information, please contact (714) 270-5392 or
email
duaneroberts92804@yahoo.com =============================
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ONLINE
=============================
Article posted online at
http://www.ocorganizer.com offering a brief summary about what transpired at the
Friday, October 22, 2004 anti-police brutality march
in Santa Ana, California and some actions that occured
in response::
http://www.ocorganizer.com/html/reports_from_the_hood.html "Defendant's Trial Brief" that was filed by Civil
Rights Attorney Ronald Talmo in People of California
v. Naui Huitzilopochtli, Orange County Superior Court,
Case No. A61170:
http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/trialbrief.pdf Excessive force complaint filed by the author of this
message with SAPD Internal Affairs Unit on 11/19/04
re: arrest of protestor at O22 march; and SAPD's
letter of 2/15/04 re: results of their "investigation"
of the complaint:
http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/sapdcomplaint_response.pdf Two articles posted online at la.indymedia.org
regarding a well-documented 2003 incident at a City
Council meeting showing that Santa Ana Police contempt
for civil liberties is not a relatively new phenomena:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/02/31849.php http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/36505.php 