THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA
www.cagreens.org
Friday, June 24, 2005
Contact: Sara Amir, GPCA spokesperson 310.270.7106
saraamir@earthlink.net
Beth Moore Haines, GPCA spokesperson 530.277.0610 beth@ncws.com
Not Guilty verdict by jury in case of SF peace
activist arrested at Bush protest at GOP convention.
SAN FRANCISCO (June 24, 2005) - The Green Party of
California expressed relief today that "bogus" charges
against San Francisco Green Party activist June Brashares were found
to be false by a New York jury late Thursday night in her trial
stemming from an arrest during President Bush's speech at the
Republican National Convention last year.
Brashares, who works with Code Pink and other
peace groups, was arrested during a well-televised protest in which
she stood on a chair and held up a handmade sign she smuggled into the
convention center in her pantyhose that said: "Bush Lies.
People Die."
The jury deliberated only six hours before finding
her not guilty of all five charges, including assault, harassment and
disorderly conduct. She was accused of putting a gash in the leg of a
security guard with her shoes, but witnesses, including a KGO-TV
cameraman, testified she wasn't wearing any shoes while standing on
the chair.
"We are very pleased with the outcome of the
trial. Ms. Brashares was at the RNC to make a statement of peace, and
never would have kicked a security guard or anyone else," said
Erika McDonald, San Francisco Green Party spokesperson.
"The fact that Ms. Brashares had to travel
across the country to face bogus charges shows an increasing lack of
tolerance for dissent in this country. I can't imagine New Yorkers are
too happy that their city, still ridden with devastating crime and
violence, used precious resources to prosecute a peace activist for
expressing political views," added McDonald.
