By Julia Preston, The New York Times
New York City -- A state court judge in Manhattan, unmoved by irate objections from lawyers for New York City, declined yesterday to dismiss contempt proceedings against the city for holding protesters too long during the Republican National Convention.
The judge, John Cataldo of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, found the city in contempt of court last week for failing to heed his order to release protesters still in custody without being arraigned after 24 hours. He set a fine of $1,000 for each person who was still in city custody at 6 p.m. on Sept. 2.
At a hearing yesterday, Michael A. Cardozo, the city’s chief lawyer, urged the judge to drop the contempt citation now that all of the protesters covered by the judge’s order were free. Alternatively, the city has argued that it should be given three weeks to prepare its case.
“Why are we doing this under this kind of breakneck speed?” Mr. Cardozo asked.
Justice Cataldo set aside his original contempt ruling, but set a new hearing for Monday morning to determine whether he would reinstate it permanently. He appeared to indicate, however, how he was leaning, saying the city’s delay in complying with his release order was “willful and intentional.”
He also ordered the city to produce by 4 p.m. today a list of about 600 people detained during the convention and released on his orders on Sept. 2, in the hours after he held the city in contempt.
Lawyers representing protesters have accused the city of holding them intentionally until after the convention was over and
Mr. Cardozo criticized Justice Cataldo for making what Mr. Cardozo said were several errors in the judge’s contempt ruling and said the city would appeal it. He said the judge was infringing on the city’s rights by denying him sufficient time to gather information and a court hearing to explain the processing delays.
“Your honor deprived me of my opportunity to present witnesses,” Mr. Cardozo said, to show the city did “the absolute best we could” in processing the detainees.
He said there were not enough computers at the holding facility the city set up at Pier 57 on the West Side, so most information about the people detained had to be “done by hand.” He said there had been delays to check fingerprints with authorities in Albany to see if those arrested had criminal records.
Mr. Cardozo said he was not certain that the city would be able to produce all the documents the judge requested by today’s deadline.
Lawyers for the protesters said the city was trying to stall. Numerous protesters said the police dragged their feet during the legal processing of detainees. Some protesters said they were held for as long as 66 hours.
At one point Mr. Cardozo and Norman Siegel, a veteran civil liberties lawyer, jumped up from their courtroom seats and started pointing and shouting at each other.
“This seems like legal mumbo jumbo to me,” said Daniel Alterman of the National Lawyers Guild and another lawyer for the protesters. But he and Mr. Siegel acknowledged that they needed a few more days to consult with their clients about whether to press for criminal contempt charges, as Justice Cataldo offered, or civil charges that might yield higher damage payments, or some combination of both.
Mr. Cardozo said he would continue to press for a full-scale trial on the matter. “I’m not stalling,” he said. “I want the rule of law to be applied to the City of New York, and at the moment I don’t think it is.”