Judge Ed Newman and bailiff Tony Nathan are former well-known Miami Dolphin players who understand that Photography is Not a Crime (Photo by Carlos Miller).
Carlos Miller was arrested for filming the police. Resisting the pressure to accept a deal, he risked more prison time simply by insisting on his right to a jury trial. According to Miller, the prosecutor told the jury that Miller did not behave like a real journalist because a real journalist would have obeyed all police requests and orders. Millers attorney responded to that argument with the following:
In this country, when youre a journalist, your job is to investigate.
Not to be led by your hand where the police want you to see, so they can hide what they dont want you to see.
No, when youre a journalist, a real journalist, its your job to go find the truth. As long as you are acting within the law as Mr. Miller was, you have the right to demand and say, no, Im not moving, I have the right to be here. This is a public sidewalk, I have the right to be here.
He did his job. He has the right to do his job the way he sees fit. Its not up to these prosecutors to tell anybody, much less an independent journalist, how to do their job. Its not up to the police officers, its not up to a judge or the president.
In this country, journalists do their job the way they see fit.
Whats he describing is Cuba. What hes describing is a communist country. The government says you cant be here because I say you cant be here.
And its infuriating to me that a prosecutor would try to get up here and try to convince you that just because a police officer says something, that he has to bow his head and walk away.
That is a disgrace to the Constitution of this country.
Congratulations to Miller and his attorneys. More info, including video from the trial, at the link above.