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DNC: Boston Herald: DA to court protesters

Four courtrooms and more than a dozen veteran prosecutors have been set aside to arraign unruly or civilly disobedient demonstrators during the Democratic National Convention.
DA to court protesters
By Thomas Caywood
Monday, July 5, 2004

Four courtrooms and more than a dozen veteran prosecutors have been set aside to arraign unruly or civilly disobedient demonstrators during the Democratic National Convention.

``We won't tolerate any protesters violating the rights of others,'' said David Procopio, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley.

Rather than the typical trip to a district police station for booking, however, pinched protesters will be hauled to the Suffolk County House of Correction at South Bay for booking at five special stations.

The next stop is the Roxbury Division of Boston Municipal Court, where four courtrooms will be reserved all week.

``Hopefully, we won't need them all, but we are ready,'' said Procopio, who added the Roxbury courthouse was picked because it's near the South Bay jail and away from the downtown convention site.

For those rounded up after 3 p.m., a clerk magistrate and a bail commissioner will be stationed at South Bay.

``Some will be released on bail and arraigned at a later date, after the completion of the DNC,'' Procopio said. ``If someone arrested overnight has a lengthy record or committed a felony or some kind of violent offense, they will then be held overnight at South Bay.''

A Suffolk Sheriff official didn't return calls yesterday.

Meanwhile, juvenile demonstrators who run afoul of the law will wind up at Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police headquarters on Southampton Street.

``They will be booked and arraigned right there at MBTA police headquarters,'' Procopio said.

Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Charles Johnson has said planners are girding for the possibility of 1,500 to 2,500 arrests during the weeklong political bash.

Johnson said the chance that judges and probation officers may be consumed by the surge in arrests made it impossible to plan to carry on with a normal trial schedule in the city.

Procopio said police will be expected to arrest protesters and demonstrators only as a last resort, and the 15 prosecutors who will be dedicated to the DNC have been instructed to resolve certain cases at arraignment.

``It's likely you could see alternate dispositions such as pretrial probation,'' he said. ``That only applies to people who are not arrested for any kind of violent act and who don't have any record of any kind.''
 
 

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