PHOENIX—A judge is considering whether to find more than a dozen immigrant rights advocates guilty of misdemeanor charges stemming from a protest last year over Arizona’s controversial immigration law.
Justice of the Peace Frank Conti has yet to issue a ruling on the fate of the advocates.
The trial for six advocates started on Friday and ended Monday afternoon. Other advocates have had their trials in the last couple of months. Conti is expected to rule on all the cases at the same time.
The defendants were arrested July 29, 2010, when dozens of protesters took to Phoenix streets on the day Arizona’s new immigration law was set to take effect. The protesters also were speaking out against Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio, who organized an immigration patrol the day the law took effect.
The protesters massed outside one of Arpaio’s jails, beating on a metal door and forcing sheriff’s deputies to call for backup. Officers in riot gear opened the doors, waded into the crowd and hauled off those who didn’t move.
A judge put the most contentious parts of the law on hold, and the fight likely is headed to the Supreme Court.
One of the protesters is the Rev. Peter Morales, president of the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association. He is charged with a misdemeanor count of failure to obey an order. Morales lives in Arvada, Colo., and Salem, Mass., and was elected as the first Latino president of the association in 2009.
Also on trial in the same courtroom Monday was Salvador Reza, the leader of an immigrant-rights group based in Phoenix and a longtime opponent of Arpaio and his immigration crackdowns.
Other defendants include a UCLA graduate student, a security guard at a local music venue and an official at the Arizona branch of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
Phoenix attorney Sean Larkin has represented many of the arrested protesters for free because he opposes the Arizona immigration law. He said Friday none of his clients likely will get more than a fine because they were charged with misdemeanors.
Meanwhile, a New York woman acting as a legal observer of the protest, has filed a complaint in federal court about her arrest and 15-hour jail detention. The woman, Sunita Patel, works for the New-York based Center for Constitutional Rights, which joined Patel in filing the lawsuit.
The complaint, filed Thursday, says Patel was arrested along with protesters even though she clearly was a designated legal observer there to document the actions of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in policing the protest.
“The individual defendants’ act and omissions … were intentional, wanton, willful and malicious, and were performed with deliberate indifference and/or reckless disregard of Patel’s constitutional rights,” the complaint said.
The complaint also said Patel had to pay about $15,000 in attorney fees and for travel to Arizona for her court case. All charges against Patel were dismissed June 9.
The complaint names Arpaio, former Chief Deputy David Hendershott and other top sheriff’s officials, and seeks unspecified damages.
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