Justice For Cecily

On May 5 the jurors in room 116 of The New York County Court at 100 Centre Street rose one by one and read their verdict. Guilty. The word was repeated twelve times, piercing the heavy silence in the filled courtroom. Shouts of “Shame! Shame! Shame!” erupted from the court’s audience as over 30 police officers crowded the courtroom and quickly ushered people out.

Instead of joining her classmates at graduation, Cecily McMillan, a 25-year-old student who was set to graduate with a Master’s degree from The New School for Social Research this year, is awaiting her May 19 sentencing on Riker’s Island, where she could spend the next seven years of her life. After two years and a long-awaited two week trial, McMillan has been found guilty of assault on a police officer in the second degree.

McMillan’s supporters tweeted their shock and outrage from all over America after the verdict was announced, using the hashtag #Justice4Cecily, which was trending for most of the afternoon, reaching up to 22,000 tweets per hour by Monday evening.

“Oh, Cecily. I just can’t even. I feel broken right now,” Carrie M, a supporter, tweeted after the verdict.

Shay Horse, another supporter who was present throughout the trial tweeted, “I urge everyone to come to sentencing for cecily we HAVE to show our support for our comrade in her time of need.”

McMillan was arrested on March 12, 2012 at the six-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests.  She was one of 73 people arrested that night. According to her lawyer, renowned civil rights attorney Marty Stolar, over 90 percent of the cases resulting out of Occupy Wall Street never went to trial because they were plead out. The accused in those cases plead guilty in exchange for a recommendation of a lighter sentence.

McMillan chose not to plead out of her case, claiming that a violent charge on her record would be inconsistent with her strong belief in non-violent protest, Stolar told the Free Press.

Her lawyer plans to appeal the case, but if the effort does not work, McMillan will end up with a violent charge on her record and possible jail time. Though the jury found McMillan guilty, nine members have since sent a letter to the presiding judge asking for a lighter sentence of probation or community service.

“We feel that the felony mark on Cecily’s record is punishment enough for this case and that it serves no purpose to Cecily or to society to incarcerate her for any amount of time,” the letter said.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution and defense offered differing accounts of the events that occurred on the night of March 17, 2012. The defense provided text messages and pictures as proof that McMillan’s purpose for being at the park that night was to meet up with friends and celebrate St. Patrick’s day, which was also on March 17. Once the police entered the park and ordered people to leave because the area needed to be cleaned, McMillan started leaving and then had her breast grabbed by Officer Bovell, she claims. The defense claimed that she elbowed Officer Bovell in the eye as a knee-jerk reaction to being assaulted and was then put on the ground and handcuffed. The defense wanted to submit a video that showed McMillan having a seizure after she was arrested, but the judge did not allow it.

McMillan does not have a history of seizures, but suffered multiple injuries as a result of thrashing on the ground. In a Free Press interview from 2012, McMillan described her injuries saying, “I have extensive bruising all over the body, including my left eye. I have to wear a bandage currently around my ribs and my knee. I’ve also been documented with a head injury.”

During his closing argument, Stolar showed posters of a bruised McMillan to the jury. The most striking was a picture of McMillan without a shirt showing a large dark green bruise over her right breast.

The prosecution alleged that McMillan intended to assault Officer Bovell. The case could not have been charged as a criminal case without proof of intent. If there had been no proof of intent, this case would have been charged as a civil suit between Officer Bovell and McMillan. In closing arguments, prosecutor Erin Choi showed stills from a video of the alleged assault and said that they depicted McMillan in a crouched position ready to attack. The prosecution also argued that had McMillan been sexaully assualted she would have reported it right away.

“This is not someone who would be shy to say that she was sexually assaulted if she was really sexually assaulted,” Assistant District Attorney and prosecutor, Erin Choi told the jury.

On the first day of trial, Justice For Cecily, Cecily’s support group, gave out pink cut-out handprints for court-goers to pin to their shirts in solidarity. The presiding judge, Ronald Zweibel, ordered them to stop. Throughout the trial, Justice For Cecily gathered and organized to “pack the court.”  Free Press reporters attended the trial daily and witnessed the near-full rooms almost every day.

Justice For Cecily was started in late January to early February by a group of around 10 student activists and organizers. According to Lauren Wilfong, a New York University student, activist and one of the founders of Justice For Cecily, the group formed organically out of organizing networks in which McMillan was a unifying connection. Each of the members of Justice for Cecily is responsible for a different aspect of the support group whether it be press, social media, outreach or fundraising. Wilfong explained that working with Justice For Cecily has been a learning process, “Everyone should have this type of support, ” she said.

Bex Kuuleipoinaole, another member of Justice For Cecily, told the Free Press that all of the members were invested and unified despite the group’s small numbers. “I’ve learned a lot about organising and court support through this team,” she said.

Wilfong told the Free Press that she felt McMillan’s case was special because it encapsulated a lot of the issues that arose out of Occupy Wall Street, such as police brutality and and sexual assault. Another case involving Occupy Wall Street and alleged sexual assault is that of Messiah Hameed, a teenager who claimed that her blouse was ripped open by police officers at an anti police brutality rally in 2012.

Other groups founded out of the Occupy Wall Street general assembly, like musical group Occupy Guitarmy, provided breakfast for court goers in the morning. Justice For Cecily, set up a Facebook event page, a text loop and website to provide information and encourage people to go to court and show their support. They also started a fund for McMillan through GoFundMe to account for flying out witnesses and other unexpected court expenses as well as appeals, McMillan’s commissary and fees for a retrial. They have raised $12,496 in two months.

After the verdict on May 5, a member of Justice For Cecily read from an official statement published on their website to the dozens of people gathered outside who had been screaming “NYPD, shame on you.”

“We are devastated by the jury’s verdict today. It has been clear from day one that Cecily has not received a fair and open trial,” the statement said in reference to the Judge’s behavior throughout the trial. The statement also mentioned that McMillan would be appealing the verdict.

Addressing the crowd on the court steps, Marty Stolar cited the fact that the Judge prohibited any mention of Officer Bovell’s behavior that night, including allegedly bashing another Occupier’s head down a flight of steps, as well as allowing edits in the video showing the alleged assault and his seemingly constant sustaining of the prosecution’s objections and overruling of the defenses’ as examples of bias. Stolar said that the judge’s conduct throughout the trial would be a part of the appeal process. He also mentioned not being allowed to question Officer Bovell about the repercussions of his injuries sustained that night.

“A little shiner on his eye doesn’t even measure up to Cecily in consequence – the seizures, the loss of memory and a lifetime diagnosis of

PTSD,” Stolar said to the crowd. “On balance, this is not the kind of case that deserves the kind of prosecution that Cyrus Vance delivered.”

Lauren Wilfong, one of the founders of Justice For Cecily, also mentioned that it seemed as though McMillan’s case was pursued with added vehemence.

“There have been police efforts to suppress peaceful organizing. Their goal is to wear down people’s spirit,” Wilfong said. “But even now after two years, people are still joyful, loving, and supportive,” she said in reference to the outpour of support during and after the trial from people not affiliated with Justice For Cecily.

A  petition with over 20,000 signatures was started by Dr. Linda Busch-Somach to appeal to Governor Cuomo to drop McMillan’s charge and a protest was organized at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, also known to members of the Occupy movement as “Liberty Square,” to protest the verdict.

About a hundred supporters gathered in the park holding up letter cards that spelled McMillan’s first name and protested the situation with signs that read, “No justice, no peace, Cecily must be released,” as well as by drawing messages like “Warning: NYPD may sexually assault you in this park,” on the ground in chalk lettering.

Though McMillan’s involvement in the Occupy Movement has garnered much support, her story as a student and non-violent protester has reached people from all over the world. McMillan is a liberal arts student at NSSR, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, an activist and has a reputation of being a believer in non-violence, according to trial character witnesses and her own admissions. In a statement issued to the Free Press after her arrest, Cecily wrote:

“I want to reiterate my long-standing personal commitment to non-violence, and non-violent forms of civil disobedience. When police are ordered to move on us, it is easy to become scared, and to react fearfully. We need to rise above the tactics of some police: if we become violent, we are no better than them.”

McMillan was a facilitator at the November 17, 2011 All-City Student Occupation at 90 5th avenue. She told the Free Press in a 2011 interview that she hoped the occupation would, “incite a series of student occupations across the country and launch a student movement.”

The New School mentioned this protest in a statement issued to the Free Press by Sam Biederman, the Director of Communications at The New School, as a response to the verdict:

“Many New School students, faculty and staff joined in the protests of October 2011.  At that time, The New School expressed pride that members of our community engaged peacefully in an ongoing discussion of pressing social issues, and we continue to do so. The New School strongly supports all students’ constitutional rights to free speech, protest and assembly, expressed non-violently. We continue to closely watch Cecily McMillan’s case as it goes to sentencing. “

 

McMillan also took part in 2011 demonstrations that protested for the rights of public workers, including firefighters and police officers, in Wisconsin. Though McMillan’s staunch belief in nonviolent protest was mentioned throughout her two week trial, instances of police brutality and excessive force throughout the Occupy movement were not allowed to be mentioned in the trial because the judge believed that this case was not about Occupy Wall Street but about McMillan and Officer Bovell.

“This is a simple assault case. It has nothing to do with the rich or poor, it has nothing to do with Occupy Wall Street,” ADA and prosecutor Erin Choi said in her closing arguments on May 2.

The judge on the case, Judge Zweibel, did not allow other cases involving Occupy and police brutality to be mentioned, specifically an open case involving Officer Bovell and another protester.

Justice For Cecily is still working to support McMillan. They have organized letter writing events, community dinners, visited her at Rikers and are preparing to support her throughout the appeal process. Justice For Cecily would like New School students to know that they can also show their support by attending McMillan’s May 19 sentencing.“It is critical that we are there to support Cecily and let Judge Zweibel know that the people are watching,” they said in a statement to the Free Press.

With reporting by Shawn Carrie