New York's highest court says it's up to the district attorney, not a city judge, to decide whether or not to prosecute protesters charged with disorderly conduct as part of the Occupy Albany movement that gripped downtown four years ago.
During the autumn of 2011, the downtown Albany "Occupy" site in the shadow of the state capitol was one of 2,000 such encampments that had sprung up across the globe. The movement took root earlier that year in New York City, as part of the response to the U.S. financial crisis, when "occupiers" converged on Zuccotti Park.
In November, citing First Amendment rights, a lone "occupant" moved his tent from the city-owned Academy Park to the adjacent area to the west, Lafayette Park, owned by the state. In doing so, Bradley Russell challenged the 11 p.m. curfew in the park that faces the capitol. Russell quotes the Marquis de Lafayette, who visited Albany in 1778. "When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is, for the people, and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties."
Days before the new year, the encampment was eventually broken up in a confrontation with police. Russell, who was arrested, believed his fight for freedom of speech was bolstered when Albany County District Attorney David Soares refused to prosecute more than 100 cases.
Controversy swirled around the D.A., who, along with President Barack Obama, was accused of Marxism in electronic death threats investigated by the F.B.I. Soares disclosed the contents of the messages to WAMC. "Portraying our president as a monkey, showing our president as a monkey, with bullet holes and referring to myself and our president by the 'N word' and referring to us as 'Marxists' and we are the enemy of freedom and therefore we should be, 'death to all Marxists' and things like that. Very unflattering."
In a 2014 suppression hearing, Albany City Court Judge William Carter threatened to hold Soares' office in contempt if it continued to refuse to call any witnesses against four Occupy protesters arrested by city police in 2012. Soares had offered them six-month adjournments in contemplation of dismissal, which Carter declined to accept without community service, and which the defendants rejected.
Soares initiated an appeal of Carter's decision, which eventually came before the Court of Appeals in March.
The Court of Appeals has now ruled unanimously that under the doctrine of separation of powers, "courts lack the authority to compel the prosecution of criminal actions."
Lower courts in this case also held the city court judge went too far in saying he could use his powers to find prosecutors in contempt if they didn't call witnesses and participate.
Last October local Occupiers gathered at the Social Justice Center on lower Central Avenue for a meeting themed "Occupy the Future." The agenda included the role of Occupy, projects to consider, and solidarity to build out.
Longtime activist Daniel Plaat said that while the local organization hasn't made front page headlines in awhile, they're in the thick of citizen concerns: "...education struggles, whether it be Common Core, or in Colorado where school boards wanted to change education standards towards a more nationalistic stance. There's Ferguson... more people getting killed by the police..."
The Albany Occupy movement has dwindled down to a handful of activists who continue to bide their time, waiting for an opportunity to resurface. They're active on social media.
Members agree their worldwide movement succeeded in raising public awareness about social inequalities and injustices.
