25-year-old New School graduate student Cecily McMillan is looking at up to seven years in jail after a jury found her guilty of elbowing Officer Grantley Bovell, 35, during the Occupy Wall Street protests. It’s the biggest and most controversial legal ruling to fall out of the Occupy movement, with McMillan’s supporters immediately reacting in outrage to the judge’s ruling, crying “Shame!” at the 30 officers lining the courthouse. At least two protestors had to be dragged out by police.
Bovell states that in March of 2012, McMillan intentionally elbowed him in the eye while he was removing her from Zuccotti Park, the epicenter of the Occupy movement. However, McMillan and her defense team claim that Bovell grabbed her breast from behind, causing her to react instinctively. While both Bovell and McMillan sustained bruising supporting their claims, the jury ultimately declared that McMillan was guilty after three hours of deliberation. “It is time for the defendant to answer for her own criminal actions,” assistant district attorney Erin Choi said last week. “Our founding fathers did not create a right to free assembly so people could commit crimes and hide behind their right to protest. This is a sacred right that should be preserved and protected” …
