MISTRIAL DECLARED FOR PARADE ACTIVISTS

A judge declared a mistrial because of a hung jury Friday in the case of seven anti-war activists arrested during the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Colorado Springs in March.

It was an incident that divided much of the community, and the sixmember jury proved just as divided. After two days of testimony and two hours and 15 minutes of deliberations, the jury told Municipal Court Judge Robert Warren it was at an impasse.

The city attorney’s office could still retry the seven, but prosecutor Scott Patlin said no decision has been made.

The activists, who each face misdemeanor counts of obstructing a passage or assembly, which carry $500 fines and 90 days in jail, hailed the mistrial as a victory.

Though the activists did not carry banners and signs during the trial, after the mistrial was declared, they pulled them out on the steps of the municipal courthouse.

“There are people in this city who are standing up and saying, ‘We’re not going to let the status quo remain anymore,’” said Elizabeth Fineron, who received a large road-rash welt when police dragged her from the parade March 17. “They may not be out here with banners, but they’re behind us.”

Eric Verlo had registered to participate in the parade under the name of his business, The Bookman. But when parade officials saw the group marching with antiwar banners, they told the marchers to stop and asked police to remove them.

During the trial, the protesters’ attorney argued that they weren’t trying to block the parade, but were confused and trying to understand why they were being removed.

Parade organizer John O’Donnell testified Thursday that he was concerned about safety, that their message against the war in Iraq might result in retaliation. He also said parade policy prohibits “social issues.”

Court testimony also revealed that, despite O’Donnell’s claim in a letter to The Gazette that 45 protesters jumped out of the crowd and joined the group once it started moving, nobody said they saw that.

Colorado Springs police Sgt. Robert Weber, who coordinates special events for the city, testified Friday that he was not initially told by parade officials the group had a permit.

“What (O’Donnell) had told me was this group did not have a permit to be in the parade, and even if they did, he was revoking it because they had violated their contract by bringing a controversial social issue into the parade,” Weber said.

The jurors — four women and two men — did not give a reason for the impasse, and some declined to be interviewed leaving the courthouse. All but one or two on the panel, the foreman told the judge, were “fixed” in their opinions, and further deliberations would solve nothing.

A meeting has been set for Oct. 2 between attorneys and the judge to see if the case will be retried, said Greg Walta, attorney for the protesters.

“The city is going to have to decide if they want this bad publicity to continue,” Walta said. He said the case never should have been brought to trial.

“They were afraid someone would throw a beer bottle at them. In most places, if someone throws a beer bottle at a peace marcher, they arrest the thrower,” Walta said. “Here, if you’re afraid someone will throw a beer bottle at a marcher, we arrest the peace marcher. That is not how America is supposed to work.”

Said Verlo, “They were foolish to do it the first time, they’d be foolish to do it a second time.”

The activists said, if allowed, they will be in next year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.