This is my first trial as a North Carolina lawyer in Asheville. I ended up helping represent two very cool and competent radical journalists in Asheville after being asked to do so by new friend attorney Ben Scales who I met playing music.
Ben found out I had some experience with litigating constitutional law cases particularly those where the police violated the constitution. I thought the case was pretty clear cut in that the police used/applied a park curfew to specifically remove journalists from the park, so that they could operate mostly in secret in removing a homeless encampment from the park.
This is exactly what the First Amendment was designed to prevent, yet it happened here. The judge was cordial, smart and allowed us to make all our arguments, but ultimately, he mistakenly took the issue away from the jury and instead, IMHO, went out of his way to find that the police actions were constitutional.
The jury was left without the First Amendment to factor into their decision, so they found our clients guilty.
We filed an appeal and we are hoping that we get some assistance with that appeal.
Alan Graf, Attorney