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."
Is your position that no one lit the object on fire? Maybe it was spontaneous combustion?
It appears to me a simple case of the cops grabbing the wrong hoodlum. Or more probably the right one - he just didn't happen to be the perp this time -
What do you think he was doing travelling from AZ to NYC to "protest" a convention? Protest a convention? Why would someone even want to protest a convention?
These kids went there to be disruptive. Plain and simple. He went to sow chaos and got some in return.
The only sad thing here is they got the wrong guy -
Please note Mr Amerika - he was not beaten and was cleared.
Diva's Husband
Because, of course, this is the true american way, right? /sarcasm
And many posters here seem to think that's a-ok.
What do you think he was doing travelling from AZ to NYC to "protest" a convention? Protest a convention? Why would someone even want to protest a convention?
Back when this forum had real conservatives, not mindless cheerleaders for the GOP, folks drove hundreds of miles to protest Klinton.
Do they deserve to be falsely imprisoned also?
These kids went there to be disruptive. Plain and simple. He went to sow chaos and got some in return.
I would argue that the conventions themselves are far more disruptive than a few protestors.
Please note Mr Amerika - he was not beaten and was cleared.
Good. The state should pay his legal fees for a false arrest.
Where have we heard this excuse before?
I don't know. You seem pretty prone to fantasy.
BTW, they were so competent at doing their jobs that 90% of the charges against protestors are being dropped.
Your numbers are wrong, and you quite plainly don't understand how law enforcement works. In the given situation the police had two jobs (1) diffuse the riot situation (2) arrest law breakers. How exactly do you propose that the police go about not arresting individuals who are going to have their cases dismissed? Should these guys have gotten trials before they were arrested? Judging the police's competency based on successful convictions is just stupid.
"THOSE WHO WOULD SACRIFICE ESSENTIAL LIBERTIES FOR A LITTLE TEMPORARY SAFETY DESERVE NITHER(sic) LIBERTY NOR SAFETY."
Excuse you:
1. Speak for yourself.
2. Who the f--- are you, telling me what I "deserve" when I am being threatened or oppressed in some way?
3. Drop dead.
No wonder this bozo has problems with the 1st amendment.
No, but disorderly conduct is, at the same time, NOT synonymous with free speech. "Free" speech is still limited. None of us can yell "FIRE" in a movie theater without being arrested. These people came to NYC for the intent purpose of disrupting a political convention. They were not sharing their views or merely opposing a party, they wanted to disrupt a part of our political process.
I guess in your little dreamland it would be okay for these same people to stand outside polling places not allowing their opponents' supporters to vote?
BTW, they were so competent at doing their jobs that 90% of the charges against protestors are being dropped.
Again....what are the political motives behind dropping the charges?? How many of the DA's do you think voted Demoncrat in the last election?
Are you high or have you been on another planet?
He went there to sow chaos and got some.
Good for him - he defended himself. You won't find me crying for him.
The classic straw man "What if Napolean had a B-52" - the point I think you might want to notice is that commonly conservative protesters don't light fires and trash buildings and business and personal property, which has been the modus operandi of the leftist protesters for quite some time now.
Frankly he got off lightly - what if they had searched his computer for evidence of a conspiracy to disrupt the convention - how clean do you think he would be?
Do you really think he just went there to hold up a sign that said "I disagree with George Bush"? and somehow got mixed up with the wrong crowd?
Bad things happen when you go the wrong place with the wrong people with the wrong intentions. He got a cheap life lesson. I've seen worse happen to better.
Diva's Husband
Neither I nor anyone made that claim.
You statists are the ones doing just the opposite: equating free speech with burning things.
Your numbers are wrong
No. They are correct. There was an article posted here the other day to that effect.
How exactly do you propose that the police go about not arresting individuals who are going to have their cases dismissed? Should these guys have gotten trials before they were arrested? Judging the police's competency based on successful convictions is just stupid.
The attitude of the many members of NKVD was to apparently to arrest first, then distort the evidence as they saw fit to achieve a convinction. Fortunately, many private citizens had their own video cameras to set the record straight.
I can't find the thread here, but here is the article over on ar15.com:
Isn't it DEMOCRAT operatives who are charged with felonies for slashing the Republicans vans' tires? I agree with you completely. Liberals think they have the "right" to anything they please, and point back to free speech. Lying down in front of deploying vehicles....yeah, I guess that's just freedom of speech. As I wrote to Mulder...MLK and the civil rights pioneers in the 60's were WILLING to be arrested due to their civil disobedience. Today's liberal wants to have his cake and eat it too. If you can't do the time....don't do the CRIME!!
If I believed the NYT was really telling the whole story, I'd be outraged. I want to know more before I applaud or agitate about what an abuse of the system it is.
Hopefully the Patriots on the MM project are all carrying video cameras to prevent something like this happening there.
Granted, the Border Patrol ground agents are probably mostly good guys (much moreso than NKVD NYPD), but I wouldn't put it past the bastards in DC to send in a "special unit" to harass and arrest the MM on trumped up charges.
We gripe about technology in the hands of the state being used against us peasants, but this is clearly one case where the alternative is true. Private citizens utilized technology to defend themselves against false charges.
This thread sure is SMOKING! hhehehehe.
The whole point of this article seems that it's unfair for someone to have to pay legal expenses even though they ended up being innocent.
I totally aree.
However, where is the media when thousands of frivolous lawsuits get filed every year against businesses and the medical industry? How about the lawsuits filed by leftist activist groups against the government (where we all end up paying the legal bill)? It seems that it takes a leftist to be ensnared by the legal system before the media thinks anything is unfair.
Let's not talk about the "many folks here who think it is OK" - unless you can name a name who stated specifically that they thought it was OK.
You keep throwing darts at people who aren't even on this thread - "Back when this forum had real conservatives ..." Get real.
"I would argue that the conventions themselves are far more disruptive than a few protesters" - did you really write that? Do you want to talk with the folks in Seattle? Maybe you can start an organization to stop these disruptive conventions?
Bad stuff happens when you hang out with the wrong folks - he got to learn this lesson, cheaper than many.
Just for the record - I do not think it is Ok for the cops to just arrest anyone. But some responsibility for getting himself in that situation rests with our poor innocent protester here. He was young and didn't think he would get caught. This is a total non-story.
I've seen worse happen to better.
Diva's Husband
Me too....he won't even respond to my posts....I guess when you use logical thinking in debate, it makes it harder to come back with a snappy retort. And since you missed a letter in one word, that makes you a useless idiot. It isn't the first "straw man" argument he has used in this thread, honestly, it doesn't surprise me. Liberals are confounded when confronted with logic.
"Amerika" is how America is spelled in Samoan. Maybe he's Samoan?
I'm glad you brought that up. Alex Jones did a documentary on that, and presented video evidence from local TV stations that showed most of the protestors were peaceful.
There were a few violent ones that were doing the damage. The peaceful protestors tried to get the police to stop them, but the cops just stood there doing nothing.
It was a classic case of using agent provaucotors (sp) as part of the Hegelian dialectic of problem-reaction-solution.
The desired "solution" in the Seattle case being 1) to use psyops against the American people to condition them to associate protestors against globalism/free trade with violence, and 2) to "lockdown" the city and make that SOP for future events that happen to draw a lot of protestors.
By and large, it worked. Fortunately, a few folks had video cameras and were able to get the truth out.
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