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Justice happens

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Justice happens

POSTED: Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 9:27 PM

With all the injustice in this world...occasionally there's justice:

A Common Pleas Court jury today acquitted 12 Occupy Philadelphia demonstrators arrested in a 2011 sit-in in a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Center City.

The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated a total of about 13 hours since Friday before it returned, shortly before noon, to announce the verdicts: not guilty of conspiracy and defiant trespass against each of the 12 protesters.

The 12 - one woman and 11 men - were arrested Nov. 18, 2011 when they staged a sit-in inside the Wells Fargo branch at 17th and Market Streets. The protesters said they wanted to call attention to what they called Wells Fargo's "racist predatory lending" policies that caused a disproportionately large number of home foreclosures in African American neighborhoods.

"If this jury has found us innocent then it must mean that Wells Fargo is guilty," said an elated 71-year-old Willard R. Johnson, one of the 12 on trial.

That's certainly the conclusion I would reach. Interestingly, the judge in the trial said afterward that there were "the most affable group of defendants I've ever come across." Really? You mean they weren't the urine-soaked lunatics I kept hearing about on right-wing talk radio? How could that be?

Will Bunch @ 9:27 PM Permalink | 9 comments

Comments (9)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:48 PM, 03/05/2013

Do you mean the "racist Predatory Lending Policies" that the democrats forced into law? Those policies?

— Mirror

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:49 PM, 03/05/2013

"The protesters said they wanted to call attention to what they called Wells Fargo's "racist predatory lending" policies that caused a disproportionately large number of home foreclosures in African American neighborhoods."

The Community Reinvestment Act required lenders to increase the number of mortgage loans in African-American neighborhoods. That was supposed to be "justice" even though it required lending to unqualified borrowers. That is government interference in the mortgage market. The results of that were catastrophic to the nation. A lot of the bad loans were foreclosed, but the government even interfered in that. But the worst part is that taxpayers, who had nothing to do with subprime mortgages, are paying for bad mortgages held by Fannie and Freddie. How do innocent taxpayers get justice?

— Falls Ed

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:09 AM, 03/06/2013

Ah the whining right wingers bringing up their favorite boogey man,the Community Reinvestment Act. The one that the Democrats managed to force into law even though they had a minority in Congress? Even thought the majority of bad loans were not made by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, but from the likes of private banks like Countrywide, who weren't even covered by the Community Reinvestment Act? Honestly, the pretzel logic of Republicans is breathtaking sometimes.

— BillHicksLives!

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:05 PM, 03/07/2013

Um, Bill, Fannie and Freddie bought up the glut of mortgages from Countrywide and others during the housing boom. They also wound up with 95% of the home mortgages in the nation after the crash when they were controlled by the government. Those companies lose money month after month due to bad mortgages, but the government(that means taxpayers)funds them so that they don't go into bankruptcy. So, how do innocent taxpayers get justice?

— Falls Ed

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:52 AM, 03/06/2013

Does this mean that it's okay for a mob of people to attack and disrupt any private enterprise as long as they can find a judge who is sympathetic to their cause?

— Mr. Smith

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:46 AM, 03/06/2013

Who were the dummies that signed said loans in the first place? Never your own fault, always someone elses.

— 835union

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:14 AM, 03/06/2013

What problems arent disproportionate in African American neighborhoods? Stay the course, all is well.

— tr88

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:15 AM, 03/06/2013

"If this jury has found us innocent then it must mean that Wells Fargo is guilty," said an elated 71-year-old Willard R. Johnson, one of the 12 on trial.--No, actually it doesnt at all.

— tr88

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:37 PM, 03/06/2013

The jury didn't find them innocent. It found them not guilty. Huge difference.

— sadim

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About this blog

Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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