Malicious prosecution against Occupy costs taxpayers

How much of the taxpayers' money has been wasted by cities and counties going after Occupy protesters for clearly trumped-up offenses? I'm not blaming Occupy, of course, because I live, eat, and breathe Occupy. I blame prosecutors.

In Lincoln, Nebraska, prosecutors just squandered 8 months on a case stemming from a flash mob protest by Occupy Lincoln at a mall this past November. Think how much taxpayer dough it cost to drag out this case for so long. The judge even called the case "a huge waste of time and money" and scolded the city for it.

There's also the case of Hamilton County, Tennessee, suing Occupy Chattanooga - not because Occupy Chattanooga was accused of any actionable behavior, but to force them to defend the right to protest.

Right-wing blogs gloat that some defendants in Occupy-related cases around the country have simply pleaded no contest instead of fighting their charges. The sidewalk chalk case against Occupy Cincinnati is no exception. This is because Occupy is a working people's movement, and not all defendants can afford to take time off work to go to trial. Prosecutors know this. So it's malicious prosecution - if not in the legal sense, it is in the literal sense.

My sidewalk chalk trial will be in the early morning hours of Monday, August 6. I plan to act as my own attorney. This case should be a slam-dunk for me, but all indications are that the city of Cincinnati plans to throw the book at us. The city solicitor's office has a fantastically insane vendetta against Occupy, and they're out for blood. We have a fighting chance, but don't count on the acquittal we so richly deserve.

The only certainty is that by the time the case is over, the city will have frittered away an untold amount of police, court, and legal resources. All to prosecute several people who used water soluble sidewalk chalk - much of it packaged in the childlike Crayola motif - to protest Wall Street, which has committed some of the gravest crimes in modern history and has not been punished.

No wonder the Tea Party supports the UnfairTax. It's to pay for malevolent prosecutions like this.