My thoughts on Cecily McMillans trial today, 4/21/14: The Assistant District Attorney called Sargent Willie Briggs and Ret. Police Officer Lisa Waring to testify for the prosecution today. Briggs is Grantley Bovell’s commanding officer. He testified to bringing Officer Bovell down to the park that day and at 11:30pm, hearing over the megaphone that the park was to be cleaned. A key contradiction in testimony today came from Briggs, stating “I met with officer Bovell and looked for the officer who assisted with the arrest of Cecily for around 10 minutes”. Bovell stated in his testimony that he never looked for the other officer. Lisa Waring was the next to testify today. Her statements were to assert that Cecily was faking a seizure and that she received no injuries from the hands of the NYPD the night of M17. When the defense tried to show videos of the evening, the prosecution quickly objected to showing videos. Before the trial got started today, Judge Zweibel tossed 5 videos that showed what happened that evening so the jury will not be able to see them. One thing is for sure, Zweibel shows consistency in his bias for the ADAs office. Zweibel, a former prosecutor for the Department of Corrections, showed incredible leeway in the line of questioning the prosecution was making. When Marty Stolar, Cecily McMillan’s lawyer went to ask questions in the cross-examination, the questions were being thrown out by Zweibel. Stolar went as far as to say, “You (Zweibel) have taken the People’s (ADA’s) side this whole trial and not mine!” Zweibel hastily rejected that claim, but last week, he also parroted the prosecution’s case by stating, “Cecily crouched down, jumped and hit Bovell with her elbow”. One note of importance - Officer Waring said in open court today that the NYPD knew that they were going to clear Liberty Square at 4:30pm the day of M17. They sent upwards to 500 officers there with the sole intention, if people were protesting that evening or not to clear the 24-hour park, for cleaning by the Department of Sanitation. But Zuccotti Park is a Privately-owned-Public-Space (POPS), right? This night, I guess it was not. On Wednesday, April 23rd at 9:30am, Waring will take the stand again to continue her cross-examination and the prosecution has one more witness. The Defense will more than likely start on Wednesday afternoon. Please join us at 100 Centre St. Room 1116, Part 41. You can get more information by going to justice4cecily or joining the cel.ly loop by typing “@cecilystrial” to 23559.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 00:13:04 +0000
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