Her story is one that so few in the media have talked about and yet the ramifications of her guilty verdict in a New York courtroom Monday will have a powerful affect on the right to protest, and the rights of protestors.
Cecily McMillan, 25, now stands to face as much as seven years in prison behind bars for elbowing a New York City Police officer in the face during an Occupy Wall Street protest 2 years ago.
To understand this story, you have to understand not only what McMillan did but why she says she did it. She was participating in an OWS demonstration in New York City during the spring of 2012 when she was manhandled by the NYPD. While McMillan was being detained, she received multiples cuts and bruised ribs. While handcuffed, McMillan suffered from a seizure for upwards of seven minutes before reportedly fainting.
But it was what happened only moments earlier that has McMillan facing seven years in prison. According to the arresting officer, 35 year-old Officer Grantley Bovell, McMillan elbowed him in the face as she was being taken from Zuccotti Park. McMillan claims that the elbow thrown was a reaction to the officer grabbing her by the breast so hard that he left significant bruising.
In the trial, the defense insisted that this photograph was the “smoking gun” saying “This is, to the extent that there is one, the smoking gun in this case. This is actual physical evidence that backs up Miss McMillan’s account of what took place – that she got grabbed, and she reacted.”
The reaction, to being grabbed, was not assault, the defense claimed, but rather a reaction of instinct to her breast being grabbed. The prosecution disagreed, claiming that McMillan had injured herself, noted that the bruising had not been detected during two hospital checks on the night of the incident. The prosecutor claimed that Officer Bovell would have needed “razor blades for fingernails” and “a hot iron for a hand” to have caused her injuries. “You don’t need a doctor to tell you these things are fabricated,” said Choi. “You just need to use your common sense.”
When the verdict of guilty was handed down, there were shouts of protest in the courtroom as several people yelled “Shame!” One witness explained on Twitter the immediate response.
Meanwhile, protestors who gathered outside say they were shocked and disheartened by the verdict.
Here is a portion of the statement read on McMillan’s behalf,
In the two years awaiting trial, Cecily was never offered anything less than a felony charge, a charge that would stay with her for the rest of her life. While awaiting a trial, Cecily has lived in limbo for two years, not knowing what her future would be, forced to re-live her trauma every one of those days,” they wrote.
In the two years awaiting trial, Cecily was never offered anything less than a felony charge, a charge that would stay with her for the rest of her life. While awaiting a trial, Cecily has lived in limbo for two years, not knowing what her future would be, forced to re-live her trauma every one of those days,” they wrote.
Beyond the sexual assault and physical injuries she sustained, Cecily suffered PTSD and has had difficulty finishing her master’s degree and continuing her work as a union organizer and activist,” the statement continued. “Despite the chilling precedent this verdict puts forth for activists, we will not be deterred from seeking social and economic justice, as evidenced in the courtroom today.”
Cecily McMillan will next be transferred to an area women’s prison ahead of her sentencing. But her guilty verdict raises a number of questions including whether or not seven years in prison is an excessive sentence for giving someone a black eye. This does not attempt to take away from any pain the officer claims to have felt but his primary medical condition was “sensitivity to light” for a number of days. The physical harm that came to Cecily, even if you don’t believe her breast was grabbed and bruised by the officer, was still in excess of any injury he claims. If the person “assaulted” was not a police officer, would there be any chance that someone could be given a seven year prison sentence for an elbow to the face?
What this guilty verdict will no doubt do, is provide a chilling effect on those who would protest in the face of what they consider injustice.
Follow: @BenSwann_ on Twitter
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