publish.nyc.indymedia.org | Confirmed: NY State Drops Charges Against Josh Banno, RNC Dragon Arrestee

April 14, 2005 11:36AM EDT [general.addtranslation] Download Article (PDF) [ insert language bar ]

Confirmed: NY State Drops Charges Against Josh Banno, RNC Dragon Arrestee

By Jessica and Walt, AZ Indymedia

After some early speculation and rumors, the New York District Attorney's office has confirmed that the case against Josh Banno will be dismissed [Read More] --- At 7pm EST, NY State District Attorny Robert Ferrari announced he would drop all charges against Josh Banno who was wrongfully arrested during the RNC. Ferrari called Banno's NLG laywer to say that he planned to drop all charges. Banno was wrongfully arrested in connection to the "green dragon fire" that occurred in front of Madison Square Garden during the 1/2 million person march on August 29. [Early Coverage on AZ IMC: Fuck this courtroom!! || NYC IMC Debate: Who Burned the Dragon? || Video]

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NY State drops charges against Josh Banno, RNC dragon arrestee

At 7pm EST, NY State District Attorny Robert Ferrari announced he would drop all charges against Josh Banno who was wrongfully arrested during the RNC. Ferrari called Banno's NLG laywer to say that he planned to drop all charges. Banno was wrongfully arrested in connection to the "green dragon fire" that occurred in front of Madison Square Garden during the 1/2 million person march on August 29. Banno was initially held on a $200,000 bail and charged with 7 felonies, which were eventually dropped to 4 felonies. Banno was scheduled to go to trial April 19, after several delays initiated by Ferrari. The dropping of Banno's case follows in the footsteps of a recent NY Times article that exposed that the NY police had been editing video evidence. Over 91 percent of the people arrested during the RNC have been found innocent or have had their charges dropped. Josh and "Team Banno" are rejoicing and want to thank everyone who donatated their time, money and evidence.

By Jessica and Walt, AZ Indymedia cienega@gmail.com

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Re: NY State drops charges against Josh Banno, RNC dragon arrestee

Apr 14, 2005 11:37AM EDT

News From Babylon

VIDEO: Burning Dragon at 2004 Republican National Convention Protest, NYC

Re: NY State drops charges against Josh Banno, RNC dragon arrestee

Apr 14, 2005 04:52PM EDT

ang copp

i have to wonder what made them drop the charges.
given that banno and holiday were facing the most serious charges and holiday was released with time served and banno didn't even go to trial, the da does not have any serious convictions to show the public. the city is looking awful weak right now, that not only did 91% of cases get dismissed, the trials that were meant to showcase behavior that would supposedly justify their draconian approach didn't even happen.

Re: NY State drops charges against Josh Banno, RNC dragon arrestee

Apr 14, 2005 05:01PM EDT

large raccoon

what is the ny times article they reference?

Re: NY State drops charges against Josh Banno, RNC dragon arrestee

Apr 14, 2005 09:39PM EDT

Binge Franklin

Times article about NYPD video editing techniques:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/nyregion/12video.html

As one of the lonely 9% RNC convicts, I am debating whether it is worth the hassle to appeal, given that the civil suit starts gearing up next month.

CORRECTION Re: NY State drops charges against Josh Banno, RNC dragon arrestee

Apr 15, 2005 12:50AM EDT

legal folks

This article is NOT true!

The charges have not been dropped. I just spoke with Banno's lawyer. We hope Banno's charges will be dropped, but this has not happened. If possible please retract this article and wait for confirmation from Banno's lawyer.

Re: Report: NY State Plans To Drop Charges Against Josh Banno, RNC Dragon Arrest

Apr 15, 2005 01:45AM EDT

chris

"legal folks,"

it would be helpful if you could leave an email so we could contact you, plus, it would also help your credibility. I've emailed the authors of the piece for clarification, and changed the headline of the story to more accurately reflect its contents.

Re: Report: NY State Plans To Drop Charges Against Josh Banno, RNC Dragon Arrest

Apr 15, 2005 03:05AM EDT

Team Banno

Our apologies - the wording on that initial release was misleading. We just know that the DA who is prosecuting Josh said he was planning to drop the charges - probably next Tuesday when the trial is scheduled to start. It won't be official until then.

We apologize for the error :)