Defense howls after town-hall protest trial postponed

In a move that made defense lawyers protest, a Philadelphia judge on Thursday agreed to postpone until June 10 the trial of 10 people arrested in a melee at a March town-hall meeting attended by District Attorney Seth Williams and Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey.

Municipal Court Judge Joyce O. Eubanks granted the request by Assistant District Attorney Pam Conner, who said she needed more time to prepare for the disorderly conduct trial.

Conner said she was only recently notified of the nonjury trial's scheduling, and needed time to interview police and at least one civilian witness to the March 19 incident.

The prosecutor also told Eubanks that the trial would require use of video. The parties met in a small, packed courtroom in the basement of the Criminal Justice Center, which daily handles pleas and trials for people charged with summary offenses. The room is not equipped for video.

Defense attorneys Lawrence S. Krasner, Brian Collins, and Michael Coard opposed the delay. They said their clients and witnesses had taken time off from work to come to court Thursday, and urged Eubanks to at least begin the trial.

"Frankly, this eleventh-hour request may smack of something else. I'm not sure it's appropriate," Krasner told the judge.

Coard said the District Attorney's Office had no excuse for not being prepared, given that both Williams and Ramsey were at the meeting at Lawncrest Rec Center when the protest erupted.

The meeting was billed as an opportunity for the public to talk to Williams and Ramsey about law enforcement.

But many in the crowd were angry over that day's announcement by Williams that no charges would be filed against two police officers in the death of Brandon Tate-Brown.

Tate-Brown, 25, of Frankford, was shot to death Dec. 15, 2014, during an early-morning traffic stop in the 6600 block of Frankford Avenue in Mayfair.

During the meeting, protesters began chanting, "Shame on you," and "Who killed Brandon Tate-Brown?" and approached Williams and Ramsey.

Police tried to prevent the demonstrators from getting closer, people pushed back at police, and the meeting ended with people falling to the floor, knocking chairs about, and getting arrested.

In court, Krasner said the arrests were a police overreaction to the protesters' exercising their free-speech rights.

The 10 charged are Caleb Gallus, 30; Asa Khalif, also known as Earl Pittman, 44; Durmel Coleman, 23; Carmen Spoto, 22; sisters Megan Malachi, 33, Morgan Malachi, 32, and Mallori Malachi, 27; Joseph Quinn, also known as Quinn Dougherty, 22; Scott Williams, 26; and Rufus Farmer, 32.

Khalif is a cousin of Tate-Brown and founding president of Racial Unity USA.

Each faces up to 90 days in jail if convicted of disorderly conduct, a summary offense.

Before Thursday's court action, members of the Philadelphia Coalition for Racial, Economic and Legal Justice demonstrated support for the 10 outside the courthouse at 13th and Filbert Streets.