NOT GUILTY

Today I had my first full trial, which was for failure to obey the lawful orders of a police officer. My client, CK, was found not guilty after 30 minutes of deliberation by the 6-person jury.

Most of my case involved attacking the only state witness - Commander O'Leary. I tried to drive home the notion that he was acting recklessly during the anti-war protest, and that the arrest of CK was also reckless. I also portrayed him as distrustful and contradictory. I believe my most brilliant move was maneuving in jury selection to keep a key juror - a gentleman who was later the foreman of the jury and very sympathetic to our case.

I objected about 6 times and all were sustained. The prosecutor made several missteps - I only caught about half in time.

Ultimately I allowed CK to testify and I think he came across as honest and not at all violent - as the prosecutor and O'Leary tried to portray him. I also had a reporter from the Austin Chronicle testify. He came across as trustworthy, and added to the impeachment of O'Leary. Among other things, he was able to testify that O'Leary sprayed him and other reporters with pepper spray directly, even though O'Leary had just testified that he only sprayed into the air.

Paraphrasing part of my closing arguments: "In this country we do not punish people for exercising their 1st Amendment rights. Indeed, we provide added protection for political speech such as this. But CK has already been punished. He was punished by Commander O'Leary on that day, when he was pepper-sprayed, arrested, thrown to the ground, and thrown in a paddy wagon. The punishment stops here today. The rights of assembly and speech that our neighbors exercised on that day are critical to a functioning democracy, as is the jury system that you are all a part of today. Each of your opinions and thoughts are critical to a decision in this case. Thank you for your time."