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Judge Slammed for 'Abuse of Power' Against Straight Pride Protestors
Apparently he doesn't care for First Amendment rights.
In a bizarre turn of events, Boston is apparently going to make an example out of people who protested the city’s straight pride event.
Thirty-six protestors were arrested at the dismal event last weekend, with twenty of them reportedly having been brought before a judge to be arraigned. But, according to NBC Boston, Judge Richard Sinnott refused to ease bail or dismiss the charges in almost every single case — even when it was the request of the prosecutors.
“His insistence on arraigning individuals when my office has used its discretion to decline a case is an unconstitutional abuse of his power and serves neither the interests of justice nor public safety,” said District Attorney Rachael Rollins.
“For those people now tangled in the criminal justice system for exercising their right to free speech — many of whom had no prior criminal record — I will use the legal process to remedy the judge’s overstepping of his role.”
In addition to refusing to drop charges against any of the protestors, Judge Sinnott also held a lawyer defending at least one of them in contempt of court for reading case law in support of her client.
The Straight Pride Parade was organized by a group called Super Happy Fun America, and the members have strong ties to various hate groups, including the Proud Boys. Protestors showed up to counter the hate promoted by the marchers, who carried signs saying “Build the Wall” and “Make Normalcy Normal Again” and gave speeches advocating against teaching LGBTQ history in schools.
While tensions were always going to be high between the two groups, protestors have suggested the police went out of their way to incite violence and squash peaceful protesting.
\u201cBoston Police Department spraying pepper spray into the crowd of protestors of the Straight Pride Parade #boston #straightpride #cityhall #pepperspray #protests #policebrutality\u201d— Lizzie Heintz (@Lizzie Heintz) 1567288435
“I got grabbed from behind, a chokehold. I went down. They messed up my leg real good,” claimed Rod Webber, who protested the event and was arrested during it. “I was screaming in agony, and they call this resisting. You can see it in other wide shots that is not the case. They are making things up.”
As such, state representative Ayana Pressley is calling for an independent investigation into police methods at the event, and also wants more body cameras used in the future.
“The footage I have seen only leaves me with more questions,” she said.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
