VIDEO: First Civil Trial Over 2004 GOP Convention Arrests Begins In NY City
Lawyers for four men wrongfully arrested at a protest during the 2004 Republican National Convention urged a jury on Monday to award significant damages, in the first case to reach trial after a decade of civil litigation over the mass arrests. Priya Chaudhry said at the start of the trial in Manhattan federal court, "You should punish them severely." But lawyers for the two police officers who ordered the arrests said they had taken what they believed to be appropriate action.