Over 70 Occupiers appeared in court yesterday (March 9, 2012) for their first court appearance since they were arrested in October and November. This court appearance was for a motions hearing, meaning that our attorneys had previously submitting motions (requests) to the court to dismiss the charges on various grounds (mostly first amendment-type arguments). The hearing is when the attorneys got to make their arguments in person before the judge (Judge Crystal Gaines) and the city responded.

Our attorneys, led by Brian Spears and Mawuli Mel Davis, made awesome arguments on our behalf (and successfully advocated for several Occupiers who weren’t able to make it to court.) The city’s response was far less compelling. The judge said that she wanted to take some time before issuing a written decision. We hope to receive the decision in the next couple of weeks.

Our attorneys, all volunteers and many of them with the National Lawyers Guild, have done an amazing job advocating for us and preparing for this motions hearing. Our sincere thanks to all of them from all of Occupy Atlanta:
Mawuli Mel Davis, Brian Spears, Madelyn Pavon-Suriel. Dave Markus, Jeff Filipowitz, Gary Andrews, Todd Barbee, Kim Beard, William Boddie Jr., Josh Davis, Scott Dawkins, Brooks Franklin, Marcia Fuller, Musa Ghanayem, Tracey Henderson, Shantel Martin, Candice McKinley, Sandra Michaels, Marcus Sellers, Robbin Shipp, Tiffany Simmons Rufus, Wingo Smith, Alex Sussor, Quinton Washington, Marc Watkins, Jennifer Watts, Antavius Weems, Sherri Washington.