Sleepcrime Defendants Are Vindicated
One juror's conscience proves more powerful than anti-homeless laws in Santa Cruz

"The social pressure inside the jury room was just incredible to convict them. Some people said: 'If we don't send a message, the community is going to think that it's okay for people to demonstrate and protest.' I said, 'Oh, you mean it's not okay for people to demonstrate
and protest? Where are we? Is	CRlHl
this downtown Albania?"
— Juror Jim Cohen
by Robert Norse
"Sleep Is Not A Crime"—from left, activists Dan Hopkins, Becky Johnson, and attorney Kate Wells at the Santa Cruz SleepCrime trials.
either crime. Defendants argued that they came to the council meeting with the intention of making a visible statement and presenting petitions. Defense attorneys pointed out that then-Mayor Mike Rotkin had told protesters they could "chant for five minutes," then closed down Oral Communications a minute-and-a-half later and recessed the meeting. Subsequently, Rotkin gave orders to bar potential homeless sympathizers — even those not involved with the disruption — from the chambers when the council reconvened an hour later, and denied their right to participate in the public process.
See Hung Jury in Santa Cruz page 12
same police sergeant — Andy Grain— sent HIV-positive City Council candidate David Silva flying out the door into a stone pillar, minutes after Silva had retrieved and delivered the scattered petitions. The Lockdown protesters were then arrested and dragged through the courts in a six-month court vendetta which has not yet ended— in spite of the hung jury. The district attorney may attempt to retry the case, despite the $20,000-plus cost, to discourage future "performance art" protests. After a six-day trial involving four lawyers and six defendants, the hung jury revealed that its dissenting members could not find adequate "intent" to commit
A
 six-day  trial  of homeless activists in Santa Cruz ended on March 17 with the jury deadlocked on 12 counts, freeing six defendants charged with disrupting a public assembly and trespassing on public property. The "Sleepcrime Chaingang Lockdown" defendants had been arrested at a protest of the Santa Cruz Sleeping Ban last September 10th after chaining and padlocking themselves to City Hall furniture and fixtures as supporters chanted "Homes Not Jails" and "We Demand the Right to Sleep at Night."
The televised demonstration provoked a hurried City Council recess and a police attack that sent protester Jim Cosner's 1800 petitions against the Sleeping Ban flying to the floor. A second assault by the