Thread: Costa Mesa Council Meeting Arrest Sparks Lawsuit

http://www.latimes.com

Council Meeting Arrest Sparks Lawsuit
A foe of Costa Mesa's plan for immigration enforcement says he was silenced, held illegally.
By Jennifer Delson
Times Staff Writer

March 3, 2006

A Costa Mesa immigrants rights advocate filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Costa Mesa, its mayor and police chief Thursday, contending the city violated his 1st Amendment rights when he was ordered to stop speaking before the City Council in January and removed by police.

The activist, Benito Acosta, also alleges that after his remarks — about the city's plan to help enforce federal immigration law — city police beat him. Acosta, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, is seeking $25,000 in damages.

"It appears, from the time when the city started to enter into these controversial topics, a certain voice is being suppressed while other voices can be heard," said Belinda Escobosa Helser, attorney for Acosta, who also goes by the name Coyotl Tezcalipoca.

"It's clear from Coyotl's case that he was not allowed to debate an issue that potentially has wide-reaching effects," Helser said.

The city was mostly mum in response. Mayor Allan Mansoor declined to comment "right now," as did police spokesman Sgt. Marty Carver. City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow said she couldn't comment on the suit because she hadn't seen it.

Acosta also asked in the lawsuit that the city be prohibited from enforcing part of its municipal code that gives the mayor wide discretion about who can speak at City Council meetings.

The lawsuit is the latest salvo in an ongoing controversy about the City Council's plan to allow city police to enforce some federal immigration laws.

Acosta, a 24-year-old student at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, was speaking against the policy at a Jan. 3 City Council meeting.

Video footage of the meeting shows that Acosta criticized three council members who approved the use of police to check the immigration status of felony suspects. He accused them of trying to get rid of the city's Latino population:

"We know you want to change the demographics of Costa Mesa. We know your plot…. We will fight this to the end. If anyone agrees with me, stand up."

Mansoor cut him off before the three minutes that any speaker is allotted at council meetings and called a recess at 6:58 p.m. The council returned at 7:35 p.m.

During the recess, Acosta was arrested on suspicion of disturbing an assembly, interfering with a council meeting and resisting a police officer. The district attorney declined to prosecute.

The city attorney's office is considering filing misdemeanor charges of disrupting a municipal public assembly. Barlow said Thursday that her office's investigation was continuing.

Helser said the police beat Acosta and that he suffered bruises, a sprained neck and injuries to his back, arm and head.

According to the lawsuit, Mansoor allowed Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the Minuteman Project, a citizens' border patrol campaign, to speak for more than the allotted three minutes and allowed people in the audience to stand in support of Gilchrist's comments.

Helser said the police beat Acosta and that he suffered bruises, a sprained neck and injuries to his back, arm and head.

Probably has an ambulance chaser for a doctor to boot.

Assuming that the story is accurate and complete, it would seem that it would have been better in the long run just to have allowed Acosta and any of his alias alter egos to continue making a fool of him/themselves for the rest of the 3 minutes. His quoted comments in the story could have been easily dealt with. Sounds like maybe there was more going on though.

Judge drops charges against SoCal immigration rights activist

10/01/07 21:36:34
The city's charges against an immigration rights activist alleging he disrupted a city council meeting were dismissed Monday after a judge found that an attorney representing Costa Mesa was not a public prosecutor.
Lawyers representing Benito Acosta said a Superior Court judge dismissed two misdemeanor counts against the activist after learning that attorney Danny Peelman didn't meet the requirements to be a city prosecutor.

The requirements include a written appointment to the position by the city attorney, and taking an oath to be a city prosecutor, said Hector Villagra, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Orange County office.

"We never felt that he should have been prosecuted in the first place," Villagra said. He called the city's decision to prosecute Acosta "politically motivated."

After business hours calls to Peelman and Costa Mesa City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow were not immediately returned.

The case stems from a Jan. 3, 2006 city council meeting which drew protesters of the council's decision to train police officers to enforce immigration laws. The decision made Costa Mesa the first city in the nation to trains its officers to work with federal officials to determine the immigration status of those arrested for serious crimes.

Acosta, a college student who also goes by the name Coyotl Tezcalipoca, was arrested after he urged the audience to stand if they opposed the council's decision. He also called for the recall of Mayor Allan Mansoor and the other two council members who supported the plan.

Acosta was booked for investigation of disturbing an assembly, interfering with a council meeting and resisting an officer, but the Orange County District Attorney's office declined to file charges against him, the ACLU said.

The ACLU later filed a federal lawsuit on Acosta's behalf, alleging the city council violated his free speech rights by denying him the three minutes allotted to speakers who wish to address the panel.

The city filed the misdemeanor charges against Acosta after the ACLU filed the federal lawsuit, Villagra said.

http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/153496.html

Friday, November 2, 2007
Prosecution of immigrant-rights advocate costs $32,000
Benito Acosta was loud and refused to leave January 2006 meeting, but some say Costa Mesa should accept dismissal of case.
By JEFF OVERLEY and NIYAZ PIRANI
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Comments | Recommend

COSTA MESA – Thirty minutes of turmoil has cost the city $32,000 – and counting.

Legal bills have piled up ever since the half-hour fracas at a January 2006 City Council meeting as officials prosecute Benito Acosta, 26, an immigrant-rights advocate whose noisy comments were deemed an unlawful disturbance.

Charges were controversial from the start, and new derision arose this week when the city appealed an Oct. 1 case dismissal. Some say the city is wasting money on an activist whose alleged offense involved asking people to stand while he addressed elected leaders. "It's a lot of money that I think could be used on something more productive," said Councilwoman Katrina Foley.

Observers have said Acosta, who picketed Costa Mesa for its immigration-screening program, is targeted for political reasons. City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow rejected that idea. "Council members don't get to decide who gets prosecuted," she said.

Delving deeper, evidence emerges to support each side.

MEETING UNREST

It was Jan. 3, 2006, when Benito Acosta took the podium during public comments at a Costa Mesa City Council meeting. He vowed to fight the city's immigration policies and asked anyone who agreed to stand up in support.

Mayor Allan Mansoor interjected: "I'm not going to (allow) that."

But Acosta implored the audience: "Do it! Do it!"

The meeting was recessed, but Acosta balked at leaving the podium, and police dragged him outside. Two months later, the city was sued on free-speech grounds by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Though the District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against Acosta, the city took him to court, alleging he illegally disrupted the meeting.

Last month, a judge dismissed the charges, saying that because a private attorney prosecuting the case for the city wasn't sworn in as a public lawyer, Acosta was denied "due process."

The city this week appealed, hoping to overturn the dismissal and retry Acosta, who faces a $2,000 fine and one year in jail if convicted.

CRITICISM GROWS

Suspicions of the city's motivations were bolstered last month during Acosta's trial, when a Jan. 5, 2006 e-mail from then-Police Chief John Hensley was revealed. Replying to a resident who wanted the charges dropped, Hensley wrote: "If we drop them, he will sue us for false arrest, and I am not going to let that happen."

Reached by phone, Hensley said he would explain the e-mail during Acosta's civil trial, which has cost the city about $95,000 to prepare for so far.

Belinda Escobosa Helzer, ACLU attorney for Acosta, said the city's appeal "continues to chill the First Amendment rights of other people in the city who wish to speak up at City Council meetings."

THE CITY'S SIDE

Other observers see it as vital to preserving public debate. "If we let this guy get away with something, then who's going to be the next one?" asked former Councilman Gary Monahan, who was at the Jan. 3 meeting.

Costa Mesa has seen similar situations. In 1995, a man who called himself Will B. King was booted from a meeting, but the District Attorney declined to file charges. In 1992, the late Sid Soffer was prosecuted for building-code violations, but claimed at the time that he was "singled-out because of his outspoken criticism of city officials."

The January 2006 meeting was not the first time Acosta addressed Costa Mesa leaders. The activist, who attorneys said could not comment, on Dec. 6, 2005, cursed in Spanish and repeatedly called Mansoor a "racist pig."

While that track record makes Monahan support the charges, he says a compromise, such as a plea bargain, should have resolved the case long ago. "Both sides are guilty for the money and the cost," he said. "There's always a middle ground that could have been reached."

www.ocregister.com