RALEIGH: First 'Moral Monday' protestor to stand trial is found guilty | State Politics | NewsObserver.com
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Saladin Muhammad, a labor organizer who was among the early wave of protesters arrested during this year’s “Moral Monday” demonstrations at the state legislature, was found guilty of all three charges Friday.
He was the first demonstrator to be tried in Wake County District Court. The ruling came from Judge Joy Hamilton.
Al McSurely, the lawyer representing Muhammad, gave immediate notice of plans to appeal the verdict in Wake Superior Court.
Muhammad’s trial offered a glimpse of the video evidence and arguments that prosecutors plan to employ as more than 900 cases make their way through the courts.
It also offered a glance at defense strategies, as well as the strengths and weaknesses in the state’s cases.
Muhammad, a Rocky Mount resident, was among 49 demonstrators arrested inside the N.C. Legislative Building on May 13, wearing a yellow armband like many of the protesters to symbolize “the rising of labor like the sun.”
On that Monday evening, nearly 200 people crowded around the rotunda fountain on the second floor, outside the doors of the chamber where the state House was doing business.
They were protesting tax plans, education policies, health care proposals, welfare cuts, environmental regulations and new voting policies.
Muhammad, who took the stand in his defense, said he joined the rally that night to protest a specific state law that he thought would be harmful to labor.
Muhammad was charged with second-degree trespassing, failure to disperse on command and posting or displaying signs or placards in violation of building rules.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/10/04/3253309/first-moral-monday-protestor-to.html
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