BY GERARD FLYNN | Jurors who convicted Occupy Wall Street activist Cecily McMillan aren’t the only voices calling for leniency in the sentencing of the 25-year-old New School graduate student, who is facing between two and seven years in prison for elbowing a police officer in the face at an O.W.S. protest on March 2012.
Last week, nine of the 12 jury members petitioned Judge Ronald Zweibel to “consider probation with community service” when McMillian is sentenced on Mon., May 19.
This past Monday, on the steps of City Hall, a handful of city councilmembers followed suit.
Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, who was arrested while protesting with the Occupy movement — his charges were later dismissed — condemned the Police Department for what he called its tendency to use “excessive force” at protests.
He said the effort to keep McMillan incarcerated is an attempt by the powers that be to chill free speech.
“Many of the arrests at Zuccotti Park were provoked by the police and unnecessary,” he said, adding that protesters often were charged afterward with assaulting a police officer.
Rodriguez said those in the justice system want would-be protesters to take a look at McMillan’s case as “an example to all people who join protests.”
The Upper Manhattan councilmember called her a “role model” of how hard it can be, under the system, to defend the Bill of Rights.
Other politicians who joined the rally to call for leniency for McMillan were City Councilmembers Laurie Cumbo, Robert Cornegy and Helen Rosenthal, while a representative of Jumaane Williams read a statement of support.
Randy Credico, who is running for governor of New York, said McMillan’s case is quickly and increasingly gaining international attention. He called that bad for the justice system, as well as for “phony progressives” in the City Council who didn’t turn up at the rally.
“Forget about the lack of city councilmembers — she’s quickly becoming an international star,” Credico said. If she’s kept jailed, he added, it will make her more famous than the members of Pussy Riot, some of whom, in fact, visited her recently in prison.
McMillan is currently being held on Riker’s Island without bail. Her supporters are calling for her sentence to be reduced to time served, plus community service.
Former City Council candidate Yetta Kurland also spoke at Monday’s rally. Kurland, a civil rights attorney, said it would be “an injustice” for McMillan to be sentenced to jail time for reacting to what she perceived to be a sexual assault: McMillan alleges that a police officer grabbed her breast from behind as she was leaving Zuccotti Park, and that she was then beaten and subsequently arrested. Kurland added that McMillan was one of the very few Occupy protesters to be hit with criminal charges, as many of the others had their charges dropped.
“Cecily is a warm compassionate person,” Kurland said at Monday’s rally. “We feel horrible about the decision. We all know the interconnectedness between Cecily’s situation and others who have to deal with the criminal justice system.
“I think it’s upsetting to see bruising on her breasts,” Kurland said of photos taken after McMillan’s arrest. “What she experienced seems to be a compelling piece of evidence and shows a level of force. We have to look at the way sexual violence plays out in some of these police brutality cases.”
