{"id":454,"date":"2012-12-11T23:32:41","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T23:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=454"},"modified":"2012-12-17T23:36:37","modified_gmt":"2012-12-17T23:36:37","slug":"activist-lemaster-sentenced-for-illegal-lodging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/activist-lemaster-sentenced-for-illegal-lodging\/","title":{"rendered":"Activist Lemaster Sentenced for Illegal Lodging"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;For more extensive information and commentary on this case, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.indybay.org\/newsitems\/2012\/12\/02\/18726953.php\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.indybay.org\/<wbr>newsitems\/2012\/12\/02\/18726953.<wbr>php<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a> .&#8221; &#8211; R. Norse.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Georgia Perry<\/p>\n<p>SC Weekly: Dec 11, 2012<\/p>\n<div id=\"articleContent\">\n<div id=\"articleThumb\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.santacruz.com\/images\/made\/images\/articles\/news\/lind_lemaster_s_300_300_100.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Linda Lemaster says she\u2019ll appeal her conviction stemming from Peace Camp 2010. (Photo by Chip Scheuer)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite being shut down over two years ago, the loose threads of Peace Camp 2010 are still dangling in the county court system. After Dec. 6\u2019s sentencing for Linda Lemaster, who received a misdemeanor for illegal lodging at Peace Camp and faces community service plus probation, the longtime homeless advocate and her attorneys have their sights set on an appeal they hope will take them all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>While Peace Camp 2010 was a protest against the camping ban in the city of Santa Cruz, the citations Lemaster and several other protesters received for sleeping on the county courthouse steps were not camping ban violations. They were misdemeanors for violating state Penal Code \u00a7647e, which prohibits \u201cillegal lodging\u201d\u2014a citation that falls under the umbrella of \u201cdisturbing the peace,\u201d including such acts as public intoxication and prostitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat basically happened is [police officers] went looking for a law that they could use as a tool to break up this protest,\u201d argues Lemaster\u2019s attorney, Jonathan Gettleman. \u201cBut \u2018lodge\u2019 is a very vague term. To say, \u2018to lodge in a public place without the permission of the county\u2019 sounds a whole lot like, \u2018if we don\u2019t like what you\u2019re saying then we can just tell you you\u2019re lodged there and if you don\u2019t leave we can arrest you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"extraContent\">\n<div>\n<h4>Related Articles<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.santacruz.com\/news\/2012\/10\/23\/homeless_proposals_face_challanges\">Homeless Proposals Face Challanges<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.santacruz.com\/news\/2012\/07\/02\/doing_a_180_on_homelessness\">Doing A 180 On Homelessness<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>How Tolerant?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Assistant District Attorney Alex Byers prosecuted Lemaster and, at the sentencing, made his position clear: \u201cWe\u2019re not here because of homeless problems. We\u2019re here because of the rule of law\u2026This is a very tolerant town. But tolerance has limits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t get to break the law because you disagree with it,\u201d he continued, adding that Peace Camp 2010 was a public health issue that interfered with courthouse employees\u2019 ability to get to work. \u201cEveryone saw the deterioration of what was happening out there\u2026And if there\u2019s a lesson to be learned it\u2019s to at least attempt to work within the system, not outside the system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lemaster argues that she rarely spent the night at Peace Camp and, in fact, worked to make the event safer. \u201cWhat I was doing there was a lot of cleanup and caregiving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, Judge Rebecca Connolly sentenced Lemaster to community service and six months of probation. \u201cYou wanted to highlight issues of homelessness,\u201d Connolly told Lemaster in court, \u201cand by doing that committed civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is making a conscious decision to break a law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Connolly granted Lemaster a stay on her sentence because Gettleman plans to appeal her case. He says he plans to challenge the constitutionality of \u00a7647e altogether and argue that the officers on the scene violated Lemaster\u2019s First Amendment right to free speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the 24 years that Lt. Plageman had been a county sheriff\u2019s officer he had never before used [\u00a7647e],\u201d says Gettleman, who worries that if Lemaster loses the appeal it will give county law enforcement free reign to use the law more liberally in the future to break up protests.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Restricted Areas<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Local attorney and homeless advocate Ed Frey, who received the same citation as Lemaster at Peace Camp 2010, says he is not hopeful for her in the appeals process. He says he and five other protestors who underwent trial for illegal lodging in 2011 already tried to argue against it on constitutional grounds, to no avail.<\/p>\n<p>Local homeless advocates see Lemaster\u2019s situation as representative of what they say is a conspiracy against the local homeless population and the citizens\u2019 rights to freedom of expression.<\/p>\n<p>Some argue that even city planners are in on it.\u00a0 Attorney Kate Wells, who has also been volunteering to help defend Lemaster, argued at a recent CTV panel that the city\u2019s downtown sidewalk kiosks are, in fact, \u201cbarriers to make it impossible to have any sort of meeting area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Santa Cruz, all of our rights are subject to time, place and manner restrictions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;For more extensive information and commentary on this case, go to http:\/\/www.indybay.org\/newsitems\/2012\/12\/02\/18726953.php .&#8221; &#8211; R. Norse. &nbsp; Georgia Perry SC Weekly: Dec 11, 2012 Linda Lemaster says she\u2019ll appeal her conviction stemming from Peace Camp 2010. 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