BRISBANE — After two months of deliberation, Brisbane magistrate Kerry McGuiness found Jim Dowling, a long-time peace activist and member of the Catholic Worker group, not guilty on June 1 on a charge of obstructing police when they arrested him last year at a public debate about civil liberties.

Commenting after the ruling, Dowling said: “McGuiness ruled that there was no evidence I had committed any breach of the peace or was about to do so.

“She then ruled that there was no need to address the issue of whether I obstructed police, as one could not be convicted of obstructing police if the police had no lawful reason to detain you in the first place. She quoted precedents which clearly showed this. So I guess I won.

“It was great to have a dozen or so supporters come along. We started the day with a vigil for peace, free speech, and nonviolence outside the Scales of Justice Statue and then marched single file with placards to the magistrates court.”

Dowling said he had been “totally confident of winning”, given that “I had nine witnesses including the former attorney-general of Queensland, who said I did not make a sound during the meeting until I was dragged into the next room by police”.

Dowling lodged a complaint last year with the Crime and Misconduct Commission about being violently assaulted by the police without any reason. The CMC informed him it had forwarded his complaint to the police to investigate.

Kim White

From Green Left Weekly, June 28, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

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