Eight of 10 Occupy St. Louis protestors arrested in Kiener Plaza on Oct. 6 pleaded guilty in municipal court today to violating the city's ordinance banning people from being in city parks past 10 p.m.
Attorney Maggie Ellinger-Locke says the eight were sentenced to time served - about 24 hours - and Judge Richard Torack waived court costs. Ellinger-Locke called it a victory that individuals who "went to jail for justice" and were protesting economic inequality didn't have to pay any money.
Ellinger-Locke says one defendant who asked for a trial was acquitted, and a second who was convicted received the same sentence as those who pleaded guilty.
Trial dates for those arrested when police broke up the Occupy St. Louis protest on Oct. 23 and during a Nov. 17 sit-down protest at the entrance to the Martin Luther King Jr. bridge have not been set. A federal case challenging the constitutionality of the city's curfew is set for trial in 2013.
