September 10, 2014 was the date of my Trial, but I had 3 separate appearances in court prior to that date. I had my first appearance on the 28th of August. I appeared again on a date that escapes my memory, and after that appearance we set a date for pre-trial.
my first appearance, or arraignment was a minor interaction, that lasted all of 2 minutes at the podium, and I was scheduled to appear again, after a discovery was provided to my public defender. I do remember watching a decent amount of people getting 3+ years of probation, and hefty fines for driving under the influence of alcohol even though there was no victim.
My second appearance was much like first, and we set up a date for pre-trial. Again I watched people receive probation, and hefty fines for DUIs, Disturbing the piece, and other victimless crimes.
When I appeared on my 3rd time for pre trial, I was expecting something to actually happen. In reality, I was called early, my lawyer, and the DA were called to approach the Judge, and they made conversation in hushed tones for a minute or two. We deliberated on a trial date of September 10th, 2014.
I appeared ready for trial on September 10th, I had put a call to action out to all cop watchers to call the Fresno DA’s office, and demand that they drop these silly charges, but was unaware of the actual effect at that point in time. My public defender met with me, outside the courtroom and told me the “DA had made the decision to drop the charges, but after my stunt she wasn’t so sure”. Either way she was prepared to have justice. She also gave me a compliment on my Palestinian keffiyah. Unbeknownst to me, she was of Palestinian decent, which made her appointment as my public defender that much more endearing to me.
When DA Vanessa Wong entered the courtroom she would not make eye contact with me. I deduced later that it was probably due to the amount of calls that came in from around the country on my behalf. Thanks for that by the way. My case was called first on the 10th, and the DA stood up, and told the judge that they had decided to drop the charges against me. I was not surprised as the crime I was being convicted of had no victim, and filming the police is a protected activity. I would like to thank everyone for calling on my behalf, sharing a link on social media, or any other way that you assisted in this case.
