Occupy Wall Street protester Cecily McMillan sentenced to 90 days for assaulting cop

[msanthrope]

24. Clearly, the prosecutor was well-prepared on that point:

Choi called McMillan's claim that Bovell had grabbed her "absolutely offensive" and "physically impossible," and said it was "absurd how nonsensical that story is." If McMillan was truly grabbed, Choi said, the young woman would have reported it right away. She pointed out that she spoke to a social worker and a psychiatrist in the hospital after she was arrested, and didn't mention the incident to either of them.

"This is not someone who would be too shy to say she was sexually assaulted, if she was sexually assaulted," Choi said.

The prosecution's case had also relied heavily on McMillan's medical records, which did not mention a bruise on her breast and didn't diagnose her as having suffered a seizure in the park (bystanders saw McMillan having what looked like a seizure; she testified during the trial that her doctors told her they wouldn't be able to diagnose a seizure after the fact). Choi said the seizure was a fake, calling it "the performance of a lifetime." (She also implied, but did not say outright, that McMillan had also faked breathing problems after she was arrested in December of 2013 in an unrelated misdemeanor. We have obtained a copy of the complaint in that case. It doesn't say how McMillan was taken into custody or whether she complained of breathing issues.)

McMillan also told one doctor shortly after the arrest that she wasn't in serious pain, but told another doctor two days later that her pain was a 10, the worst kind. "This defendant is not reliable and cannot keep her story straight," Choi said. She added that the first time McMillan's bruised breast was noted by a doctor was three days after the incident, when McMillan saw her own doctor at the Institute of Family Health. The prosecutor implied that McMillan had bruised her own breast. For Bovell to have grabbed her hard enough to leave a bruise and scratches, she said, he would have to have "razorblades as fingernails and a hot iron for a hand."

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/05/cecily_mcmillan_verdict_occupy_wall_street_protester_erin_choi.php?page=2

It seems that the prosecution was effective in refuting her claims. While I have no interest in defending that particular officer, I think the defense made several tactical errors. It would be foolhardy of them to appeal.