Several months ago Phoenix was one of several cities nationally that felt the impact of the occupy protest groups. Although Phoenix wasn’t taxed as severely as other cities that had larger protest groups, it was estimated that the city of Phoenix forked out well over $200K in overtime monies in order to babysit the occupy crowd. At one point during the occupy protest in Phoenix, several trespass arrests were made at Hance Park when numerous protesters failed to vacate after having been given warnings for two hours by Phoenix PD personnel on the scene.
It has come to light within the last week that head City prosecutor for the City of Phoenix, Aaron J. Carreon-Ainsa, dismissed criminal charges against 25 of the trespassers stating that justice was served by having the charges dropped for being in the park after hours. What is insulting is Mr. Carreon-Ainsa trying to draw a nexus in the court document between occupy protestors and American Revolutionary patriots such as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams along with World War I “Bonus Army” marchers that protested in Washington, D.C. to demand immediate cash-payment redemption of their service certificates. More importantly, it is an insult to the hardworking men and women of the Phoenix Police Department who risk their lives daily to enforce the law only to have valid charges dismissed by a prosecutor with an activist agenda.
Aside from this comparison being an insult to American Patriots, what does this say about the rule of law? How was justice served by dismissing criminal charges against 25 lawbreakers? What message does this send to future protest groups? It would seem the goal is to make Phoenix a type of sanctuary city for protest organizations on a national level.
CLICK HERE to read Mr. Carreon-Ainsa’s motion to dismiss the trespass charges without prejudice.