Florida Protester Was Hoping Not to Occupy Jail

TAMPA -- The crime was the same as that dozens of other Occupy Tampa protesters had been charged with in the last few weeks: trespassing. Unlike most of those other defendants, though, Timothy Sommers was still in jail.

A judge finally released him Thursday, but not before dressing him down in the courtroom and warning him that another arrest would mean months -- not days -- in jail.

Sommers had been in jail since Monday. He had appeared before Hillsborough County Court Judge James Dominguez, who agreed with prosecutors that Sommers had violated the terms to his release in a prior arrest. Sommers was ordered held without bail.

Sommers appeared Thursday in a courtroom packed with Occupy Tampa supporters, flanked by a half-dozen bailiffs along the wall. Some supporters wore white T-shirts with Sommers' picture on the front with the words "Free Tim Sommers" written beneath it.

Dominguez said his decision to release Sommers had nothing to do with the flood of threatening calls and emails sent to his office this week. Instead, he said, he had discussed the case with the prosecutor and they had decided Sommers did not belong in jail.

But if he is arrested again, the judge told Sommers, he will stay in lockup until his trial in March.

"Mr. Sommers," the judge sternly said to the defendant, "what place in the entire universe are you not to go?"

"A city park in Tampa," said Sommers.

Occupy Tampa has staged an ongoing demonstration at the city's Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa since the beginning of October.

The 23-year-old volunteer firefighter from Dade City was released without having to post bail.

Less than 10 minutes later, in a courtroom next door, Daiquiri Jones' name was called. He has been free on bail in spite of four arrests on trespassing charges connected to the Occupy Tampa movement. He has pleaded innocent.

Hillsborough County Court Judge Paul Jeske echoed what had been said in the courtroom next door to Sommers.

The judge denied a state motion to revoke bail but warned Jones about what would happen if he had another run-in with the law at a demonstration.

"You go home today," Jeske said, "but if you go back and are arrested, you will be facing jail while your case is pending. I'm putting the gavel in your hands. You will decide whether or not you go to jail."

Outside the courtroom, Jones said he didn't hear the judge ban him from exercising his right to free speech.

"I just don't plan on getting arrested," the soft-spoken defendant said. "I hope the police are justified in their actions. I don't think they were in the past."

Both men were arrested along with nearly 30 other protesters at the Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park off North Boulevard early on the morning of Dec. 1 as part of a World AIDS Day vigil.

Jail records show Sommers was charged with trespassing -- a misdemeanor -- and resisting arrest without violence, a charge that was later dropped by the state.

He was released after posting $750 bail, records show, and is scheduled for trial on March 13. He had been cited for trespassing three weeks earlier.

Jones, 23, of Tampa has been arrested four times on trespassing charges, including on Dec. 1. He had posted bail each time.

After the hearings in the courthouse lobby, the protesters got advice from Linda Moreno, a civil rights attorney from Tampa. She was sympathetic to their cause, though she does not represent them in court.

She warned protesters not to call or email threats to judges or city officials.

"If you want to be taken seriously," she said, "then act with dignity. We are interested in the principle here, the First Amendment."

Jones' attorney, Roger Breit, also offered advice to about two dozen demonstrators.

"For anybody who has been arrested," he said, "you now know why you can't be arrested again."

McClatchy-Tribune News Service