PPU Demonstrators receive ACDs

The 5 activists arrested for occupying an abandoned building in conjunction with Poor People United's demonstration all received Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissals yesterday

I was part of the group that was arrested for occupying a building as part of a Poor People United demonstration against homelessness (background,
more background). On Tuesday, February 3rd, the five of us all accepted Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissals (ACDs) in the cases against us.

An ACD is an agreement to adjourn a trial with the intention of dismissing the case after a period of time. It does not require an admission of guilt or wrongdoing and once the case is dismissed the records of it are sealed.

The terms of the ACD that we agreed to were 24 hours of community service and to not enter the building again. If any of us are charged with a crime in the next six months it is possible that the case can be opened up again, but even then it would be unlikely.

We considered this to be a great outcome since it doesn't require an admission of guilt, nothing will go on our records and the community service requirement will be easy to meet. We considered demanding a trial in order to bring more public attention to the issue, however we were all pretty much fed up with the hassle of going to court and decided to that we could achieve the same results on our own.

I was pretty happy with the action as a whole. It brought a good deal of media attention on the issue of homelessness which put pressure on the county to work with PPU to find a solution. Because of the many actions initiated by PPU, The county has been forced to ackowledge the problem and work with PPU, although much more needs to be done (see the related stories: 1, 2, 3).