{"id":598,"date":"2012-06-14T07:46:49","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T07:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=598"},"modified":"2012-12-29T07:48:57","modified_gmt":"2012-12-29T07:48:57","slug":"does-santa-cruz-jail-people-for-sleeping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/does-santa-cruz-jail-people-for-sleeping\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Santa Cruz jail people for sleeping?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Becky Johnson: One Woman Talking<\/a><\/h1>\n

June 14, 2012<\/h2>\n

Original Post<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n\u00a0At a January hearing in 2011, Ed Frey checks in with<\/em>
\nexpert witness, Dr. Paul Lee, as supporters Robert Norse<\/em>
\nand Gail Page look on. Photo by Becky Johnson<\/em><\/p>\n

by Becky Johnson
\nJune 14, 2012<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz, Ca. — While my title may seem absurd, it is clear that the answer is “yes.”\u00a0 Both Gary Johnson, a homeless man, and his attorney, Ed Frey, slept outside the courthouse as part of Peace Camp 2010, to protest laws which criminalize the act of sleeping.\u00a0 When County Counsel Dana McRae advised Sheriff’s that they could cite protestors with 647 (e), the statewide anti-lodging law, sheriff’s began to advise protestors that “illegal lodging would not be tolerated.”<\/p>\n

The misdemeanor law can involve immediate arrest for the act of “lodging,” even though the legal meaning of that term is not defined within the law.<\/p>\n

Because of this over-charging ( an infraction sleeping ban ticket would only have resulted in a maximum of 8 hours of community service, if found guilty) the very first ever jury trial on a sleeping ban was held before Judge John Gallagher last May.\u00a0 Frey and Johnson were found guilty of sleeping.<\/p>\n

To show his extreme displeasure with the whole process, Gallagher sentenced both Johnson and Frey to 6 months in jail for the “crime” of lodging, which court testimony said was sleeping. When Frey asked to be released on bail to appeal his conviction, Gallagher set bail at $50,000 each.\u00a0 Both were handcuffed and jailed right as the hearing ended.<\/p>\n

At a later hearing, Gallagher modified the bail to $110, which was, apparently, the bail schedule all along for 647 (e) violations.\u00a0 Today, in Dept 5, a three-judge panel will hear Frey’s appeal.\u00a0 If the conviction is upheld, Frey and Johnson may be remanded to jail to finish serving their six-month sentences.<\/p>\n


\n<\/a><\/div>\n

Does Santa Cruz REALLY put people in jail for sleeping?\u00a0 You bet they do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Becky Johnson: One Woman Talking June 14, 2012 Original Post \u00a0At a January hearing in 2011, Ed Frey checks in with expert witness, Dr. Paul Lee, as supporters Robert Norse and Gail Page look on. Photo by Becky Johnson by … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57],"tags":[85],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":599,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions\/599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}