Posted on 04/14/2005 11:00:40 PM PDT by RWR8189
usuke Joshua Banno is a college student from Arizona marooned in Manhattan. In his old life, he would be feeding his two chickens, riding his bike and working in the maintenance department of the student union. He would also be graduating next month.
Instead, Mr. Banno is answering phones at a Midtown restaurant, Blockhead's Burritos, to help pay legal expenses. He has fallen a semester behind at Prescott College in Tucson, and is learning more about criminal law than he ever cared to know.
The change in Mr. Banno's life dates from August, when he traveled by bus to New York City to join crowds of protesters at the Republican National Convention.
He was arrested on Aug. 29 and was charged with assault and reckless endangerment, accused of igniting a papier-mâché dragon. For months he has proclaimed his innocence, saying that in the chaos of the crowd, the police just picked the wrong person. Last week, prosecutors seemed to agree, after concluding that a police officer had misidentified Mr. Banno.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office said the case would probably be dismissed.
Behind the story of Mr. Banno's legal travails, there is a personal one. It is a tale of the obstacles and financial hardships faced by an ordinary family in a case that appears likely to be dismissed, like so many others from convention week. As of last month, about 80 percent of the convention arrests had been dismissed, adjourned in contemplation of dismissal, or ended in acquittals, according to statistics from the district attorney's office.
Beyond the immediate problem of the charges, which could have brought Mr. Banno a prison term of up to seven years, money was a serious concern. His lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, took the case for a very low fee, but it would still cost thousands of dollars to take to trial.
For Mr. Banno's mother, Betty Jo Banno, who learned of his arrest while watching television at home in Prescott, Ariz., the amount of her son's bail, $200,000, came as an early shock.
"I just couldn't believe it; I thought it couldn't be real," she said, sitting on a couch in a Midtown apartment that she sublet for herself, her son and out-of-towners involved in the case. "The first thing I thought was, 'I don't have $200,000.' "
"They said, 'What do you have?' and I said, 'I can use my house as collateral.' "
Mr. Banno's friends mobilized for his defense. They held a potluck party in Tucson. One friend started a Web site. Another sold T-shirts. His college put out a jar for donations. A friend, Toby Fraser, watched dozens of hours of videotape at the National Lawyers Guild, an advocacy group for change in political and economic matters.
Mr. Banno spent six days in jail, avoiding the meat dishes and eating canned string beans, mashed potatoes and grits. He was not allowed to make long-distance phone calls, so Ms. Shroff arranged a conference call so he and his mother could talk.
Eventually, Mr. Banno's bail was reduced to $10,000. Mrs. Banno wiped out nearly half her savings to send the bail money. As the case wound its way through the legal system, Mr. Banno's trial was delayed five times, Ms. Shroff said. Mrs. Banno bought plane tickets for herself, Ms. Shroff, Mr. Fraser and four witnesses.
In January, Mrs. Banno took a leave from her job to help with the trial preparations. She took out a $55,000 home equity loan to cover her family's living expenses. In all, she said, she has spent about $30,000 on the case.
"I used to feel pretty free going out to eat and taking a trip to visit my mom in Hawaii," Mrs. Banno said. "All of that has pretty much stopped."
The ordeal has created plenty of tension for Mr. Banno's extended family in Japan. His father, who is Japanese and works in Fukuoka as a yoga teacher, was told by his relatives that his son's arrest had shamed them. Mrs. Banno has not heard from her in-laws since then.
After months of pressing the case for Mr. Banno's innocence, a big break came late last month, when Ms. Shroff and Mr. Fraser tracked down time-sequence photographs taken by a Daily News photographer that showed Mr. Banno was far from where the fire began. A week later, prosecutors stated in court that the officer had misidentified Mr. Banno, and yesterday a spokeswoman said that the case would probably be dropped.
For Mrs. Banno, it was not a moment too soon.
"I want our calm life back," she said. "I can't wait to go home."
Unfortunately, some police have a saying (I found out when one told me as I was being booked), "You can beat the rap but you can't beat the ride."
I assume you would feel the same for somebody arrested at a conservative protest where some people broke the law.
Say you were identified as somebody who crossed the abortion clinic barrier but it was actually somebody else.
I assume you would say..."oh well, mistakes happen. Tough luck watson. I guess you shouldn't have exercised your constitutional right to peaceably assemble since some others broke the law and they screwed up and lumped you in with them. But oh well watson, it is really your own fault, so oops....I guess I will go to jail over it."
No, of course you would defend yourself.
This guy was peaceably protesting, which is his right as an American even if we disagree with him.
The city of New York owes him his life back.
Did you read the story? He wasn't the one who did it and charges will be dropped.
He came to New York to exercise a little something called his first amendment rights.
Photos show he was not the one who started the fire.
He was falsely arrested and imprisoned.
An American citizen is falsely arrested and charged for a crime he didn't commit. And you're concerned with my writing style? Interesting.
Use of the 'Amerika' spelling is offensive
Good. More people should be offended at what the New World Order is doing to this country. (BTW, it's just not democrats who get trampled on by corrupt cops).
unless, of course, you're referring to the Kafka novel of that title
The "k" is a reference to Sovietized Amerika. It's been used by many posters on many forums over the years as a refence to our emerging totaltiarian police state.
This guy rivals Rachel Corrie for stupidity. Comes to New York simply to cause trouble, gets busted and now he wants pity. Should have stayed home and took care of his family rather then going to New York engage in violent protest.
LOL! You must not have been reading much here during the Klinton years.
The "k" usage was much more common than the "c" usage.
But I guess in our emerging police state oligarchy, anyone who criticises corrupt cops in "anti-American"
NITWIT
Again, he DIDN'T ENGAGE IN THE VIOLENCE HE IS ACCUSED OF.
Can you not read or comperehend the English language?
Maybe he did something else violent while there, but I am not going to assume that without any evidence. He wasn't the one to light the fire.
As far as we know, he was there to peacefully protest, even if others weren't.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Surely you don't mean to imply that free speech is synomous with "disorderly conduct"?
The police were just doing their jobs
Where have we heard this excuse before?
BTW, they were so competent at doing their jobs that 90% of the charges against protestors are being dropped.
Yes, I'm sorry that I did not take the words of a troublemaker as the truth.
You're in the minority here.
The majority isn't interested in a Constitutional Republic. They want a totalitarian oligarchy, so long as it's run by "their guys".
Brilliant response.
You've convinced me to agree with you the police should be able to falsely accuse American citizens or crimes and destroy their lives in the process.
Something the "he deserves it" crowd has likely never experienced.
At any rate, here's a link to the Support Yusuke (Josh) Banno website, for those that will undoubtedly want to send money.
That's the most un-American thing I've heard in awhile.
Protests are American. Civil disobedience, on the other hand, is not. There is nothing in the Constitution about the "right" to disturb. As I recall, it is the right of the people to "peaceably assemble" not to cause destruction or impede the progress of military vehicles, as has happened elsewhere. Martin Luther King, and civil rights activists knew that and were willing to be arrested for their beliefs. Obviously, the "protestors" of today have lost that fact, and it is BECAUSE of the lack of prosecution that they continue to disrupt otherwise peaceable situations.
Anyone who dares to disagree with you obviously deserves to be falsely arrested, right?
No, but anyone willing to disrupt the rest of our lives to try and prove their political point deserves to be arrested. This young man might not have actually done what the authorities claim, but, on the other hand....didn't he travel an awfully long way to disrupt an otherwise peaceful event? Liek I previously stated....you have the right to peaceably assemble, not to stop a city like has been done in San Francisco, and in this case New York City.
Oh really? There was a thread posted here the other day about how 90% of these cases were being dropped by the state because of cops lying and fabricating evidence.
I would also venture to guess that most of these cases are being dropped because of the political leanings of the individual District Attorneys. Bad for business to offend your major demographics.
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