By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

SCHERMERHORN STREET — City Council Member Charles Barron was convicted Monday of disorderly conduct for his role in Sean Bell-related protests, despite a year-long battle to have the charges dropped.

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office charged Barron with disorderly conduct for disrupting traffic in May 2008 while leading crowds in protest of the acquittal of three police officers connected to the shooting death of 23-year-old Sean Bell on the night before his wedding.

But Barron claimed that he was just exercising his right to freedom of speech and has repeatedly demanded that the D.A.’s office dismiss the charges against him.

“We were arrested for acting like Martin Luther King,� Barron said after leaving the courtroom Monday. “Charles Hynes should not be allowed in any black church on January 15 to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday.�

Barron heavily criticized Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes for prosecuting the 50 people who were arrested after sitting down in the middle of Tillary Street at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge.

Protests took place all over the city, and in Manhattan were led by Rev. Al Sharpton, who was himself arrested at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. There were hundreds of peaceful arrests made throughout New York City that day.

Those arrested in Brooklyn were charged with disorderly conduct and were subsequently offered adjournments in contemplation of dismissal (ACDs) for six months, meaning the charges would be dismissed if they stayed out of trouble for that period. The ACDs were eventually reduced to 30 days. However, Barron refused to accept the offer, which required pleading guilty to the violation of disorderly conduct, which is not technically a crime.

“I’m not taking an ACD to contemplate dismissal after Sean Bell is murdered and the killers walk,� Barron said. “I’m not a common criminal … Hynes’ ego, he tries to break the back of strong black leaders. It’s absurd.�

D.A. Hynes did not personally respond to Barron’s comments. “The verdict speaks for itself,� said Jerry Schmetterer, spokesperson for the D.A.’s Office.

“This is a very simple case,� said Barron’s attorney, Roger S. Wareham, in his closing argument before the court Monday. “Charles Barron, my client, is guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt. He’s guilty of struggling to stop police killings. He’s guilty of exercising his First Amendment right to free speech. But he is not guilty of disorderly conduct.�

Wareham, who has worked with Barron since 1979, accused the prosecution of “overkill� and said that police caused more of a traffic disruption than protestors did.

But prosecutors pointed out that the protestors who were charged with disorderly conduct knew they would be arrested for sitting down in the middle of Tillary Street on May 7, 2008, and that they blocked traffic from the Manhattan Bridge, which included emergency vehicles and a school bus.

The three police officers charged in connection with Bell’s shooting had been acquitted by a judge just days before the protest.

Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Alexander Jeong, who presided over Barron’s bench trial, ruled on the case immediately after closing arguments were made, finding Barron guilty of two counts of disorderly conduct. Despite prosecutors’ request that Barron get two weeks of community service, the judge sentenced Barron to time served, meaning that he will face no punishment beyond the six hours he spent in the 84th Precinct when he was arrested. He was also fined $95 in court surcharges.

But Barron wouldn’t accept congratulations after the trial concluded.

“This wasn’t really about whether I go to jail or not, this is about the senseless murder of Sean Bell,� he told the Eagle. “This was a gross miscarriage of justice.�

Due to the lack of seriousness of the disorderly-conduct charge, Barron was only entitled to a bench trial, with the judge as the fact-finder instead of a jury.

Barron is a former member of the Black Panther Party, having joined the Harlem branch in 1969. In 1979, Barron joined the National Black United Front. He worked as Chief of Staff to the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, chairperson of the National Black United Front, with whom he led the Sean Bell protests across Brooklyn.

Barron was elected to the New York City Council in 2001, and reelected this month.

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