One of the elements the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant's actions were reasonably likely to affect the public & cause a public inconvenience.
"Public" as defined by the Instruction 7.160:
"For the defendant to be found guilty, his (her) actions must have been reasonably likely to affect the public, that is, persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access."
I s'pose that lying on your bed, muttering into your pillow, "This is what happens to a Black/White Man/Woman in America", then privacy or property rights come into play.
But looks like your front porch which is 15' from a public way in Cambridge doesn't cut it.
“One of the elements the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant’s actions were reasonably likely to affect the public & cause a public inconvenience.”
Be careful not to just “cherry pick” words. Included, with “inconvenience” were also “annoyance” and “alarm.” Yelling so loud as to have caused a crowd (as was noted in the report), I believe, would be an “annoyance” and just as important, Mr. Gates’ accusations of police racism would definitely cause “alarm” especially with the liberal leaning crowds that live in the Cambridge area.
Even MORE importantly, one must realize that it is NOT the job of the police to “prove beyond a reasonable doubt” any arrest. Their jobs are to keep the peace and enforce the law. Officer Crowley, IMO, was doing his job as any one of the other officers on the site has stated, they too would have done.
And remember, “dropped charges” does not always mean that it was an unlawful arrest. It could mean the prosecution decided that even though a law was broken, they cannot “prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that it was broken.