On the second anniversary of the illegal Iraq war, thousands of demonstrators filled the streets around Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. Two years earlier, police carried out an illegal mass arrest in the same area (which is still in litigation).
Eight people were arrested. The National Lawyers Guild deployed Legal Observers to document arrests, and kept the office staffed until everyone was accounted for, late that night.
NLG attorney Melinda Power (West Town Community Law Office) represented two of the eight arrested people on their disorderly conduct charges.
She won acquittals for both in separate Cook County Circuit Court proceedings late last year. In one jury trial, the testimony of an NLG LO seemed to be decisive.
Next, the falsely-arrested demonstrators sued the police and the state. Melinda represented them as civil plaintiffs in Federal court.
Recently, both cases were settled favorably with monetary damages.
Congratulations, plaintiffs and counsel!
See NLG Current Local Litigation page:
www.nlgchicago.org/litgat-node.shtml
and
NLG Legal Observers page:
www.nlgchicago.org/lo.shtml
and
“M20” Class-Action Lawsuit page:
www.nlgchicago.org/nlg-m20.shtml