Plea entered in Mardi Gras case

From the Spartan Daily
April 19, 2006

A San Jose State University student pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Monday morning at the Santa Clara County Superior Court to a charge of battery on a officer, stemming from a March 1 incident at a downtown Mardi Gras celebration.

Natasha Burton said she was heading home to Campus Village shortly after midnight when she was arrested for resisting arrest.

Burton filed a complaint with the SJPD internal affairs office alleging that Officer Shawn Rocha used excessive force on her.

According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office, she is being charged with a misdemeanor penal code 243(b), "battery on peace officer."

"The allegation is that the defendant slapped the officer or his person," said Michael Fletcher, supervisor of the misdemeanor department of the district attorney's office, in a phone interview.

According to her booking statement, she was arrested under Penal Code 148, which gives an officer the right to arrest somebody who "willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer."

Burton said she was not informed that her charge was changed. Burton said the officer who drove her to the police station said the report stated Burton hit the officer's chest.

"The D.A.'s office can amend (the charges) any way they want," said Enrique Garcia, public information officer for the San Jose Police Department.

Burton's attorney, Kevin Reese, entered a plea of not guilty to Judge Mark Pierce at 9 a.m. Monday at the superior court.

Reese said he and Burton will return to court for a May 2 pretrial conference and will get a trial date soon after.

"The case may be settled by then, or they may dismiss the charges - hopefully," Reese said.

Fletcher said most misdemeanor cases are settled before they go to trial.

The prosecuting D.A. for Burton's case, Tony Piazza, was unavailable for comment.

"If the reports are an inaccurate account of what happened, it's in the defendant's best interest to settle," Fletcher said.

When a defendant pleads the charges before they go to trial, he can be punished less than the law proscribes, he explained. If the district attorney finds the police's account was inaccurate, the charges are dropped.

"If we can't prove a case or they're innocent, we dismiss the charges," Fletcher said.

Burton went to the Hedding Street courthouse accompanied by her mother, father, attorney and a member of the NAACP executive board.

Burton's mother said she has been in law enforcement for nine years in southern California, but requested her name not be used because of the nature of her work.

"I know she didn't do the things they said she did," said Burton's mother. "I'm looking for justice."

The Rev. Jeff Moore, an executive board member of the San Jose NAACP, was present in court "to make sure (Burton) is fairly treated." Moore said there is a deeper problem with how minorities are treated downtown.

"We want to make sure our black citizens of San Jose are treated fairly," Moore said.

Moore said he plans to talk to San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis about Burton's case.

"In the interest of justice, this case should be dropped," Moore said.

Jewish-Muslim tension at San Jose State

Find the Spartan Daily's coverage of this event here.

On Monday evening, Islamic Activist Amir Abdul Malik Ali and University of California-Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian visited San Jose State University for a discussion on the historical beginnings of oppression from six to eight p.m. in the University Room of the Student Union.

The event, sponsored by SJSU Students for Justice and the Muslim Student Association, began with some tension when nine Jewish students and community members were present at the event, putting up posters and handing out postcards advocating Israel.

One poster, created by BlueStar PR of San Fransisco, read: "Where is the only place in the Middle East where women have the right to vote? Only in Israel."

After Students for Justice president Ali Rahnoma asked the Jewish students to remove their posters, the University Police Department arrived and asked that the posters be removed.

Some Jewish students took the posters off the walls and held them instead.

The first speaker, Bazian, began his speech by stating he is not an anti-Semite because he is Semitic.

According to the Miriam Webster dictionary, the definition of the term "anti-Semitic" is: "hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic or racial group."

While Bazian purports to be exempt from this term, it is clear he is not.

Beyond this hypocrisy, Bazian went on to use selected facts and figures to spin the issue.

"They want to erase Palestinians from history," Bazian said. This sounds eerily similar to the Iranian president's wishes for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

"Zionist Jews" and the "fundamentalist Muslims" could ping-pong back and forth all day making comparisons to other world events, but the one that gets me the most is the analogy of the Israelis to the Nazis.

Bazian likened the current Israeli government to the Nazi regime. He griped about how "the media gives stories about how violent Arabs are."

Bazian said under Muslim rule, Israel would have designated times for Jews and Christians to visit holy sites. He said they would be treated fairly.

Following what example? Is there a modern example of a peaceful Arab/Muslim country that treats Jews and Christians fairly? Christians in the West Bank already feel persecuted and synagogues were destroyed once Jewish settlers left Gaza.

In the true spirit of an "open forum," Bazian left once his speech was over.

"The second speaker, Ali, emphasized the concept of white supremacy fused with the notion of chosen people in relation to the attitude of the Zionists," reported the Spartan Daily.

This ignores a compelling bit of evidence: Jews, especially Jews in Israel are extremely diverse. This concept of "white supremecy" would work if you rely solely on stereotypes and misinformation. In Israel, the first people I saw were Asian Jews, followed by Eastern European, Ethiopian, Yemenite, Iraqi, Moroccan and Russian.

Last night I went to a Passover Seder that was conducted in Spanish and included Mexiacan, Hawaiian, Spanish and Bolivian Jews. You can find my srticle about it in the next Jewish Community News of Silicon Valley.

A "white supremecy" mentality just wouldn't fly with this group.

At the end of the discussion, Ali took questions from the audience. David Ben-Israel, a Jewish student studying business and international relations, asked several questions, to which people responded with hostility.

A man sitting behind Ben-Israel suggested the two "take it outside."

Tell me again how it's unfair when the media portray Arab Muslims as violent or hostile?

Some Jewish students react to the speakers
Some Jewish students expressed their disappointment at the SJSU-sponsored "Voices for Palestine" forum.

"I don't think the university should be sponsoring hate-speech," said Andrew Schwartz, president of the Jewish Student Union.

"They can talk about Palestinians' daily lives, that's fine. Just don't talk about killing Jews," Schwartz said.

Some students said they didn't think Mosaic Cross Cultural Center should have supported the event.

"What really got to me was when David Ben-Israel asked Mosaic, 'if this is a forum, why won't they let us speak?' She said, 'Well, if you don't like it, you can leave,'" said Jonathan Roth, a former SJSU student.

"Don't call yourself diversity-inclusive if you're not going to let other people speak up at an event, and especially don't tell them flat out they can leave."