The vets react after their convictions were tossed at court. (Jefferson Siegel / Pool)
They’re guilty — but exonerated.
A Manhattan judge today convicted 11 Vietnam veterans and one Bronze Star-holding World War II veteran of trespassing for refusing to stop reading the names of the dead “in a timely manner” at a downtown war memorial last Fall.
But Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum then immediately dismissed the convictions in the interest of justice.
“In these unique circumstances, this is the rare case where justice is served by dismissing the case,” the judge told the silver-haired seniors.
A total of 25 people had been flex-cuffed, frisked and tossed in a paddy wagon last October for refusing to observe a 10 p.m. park curfew and leave the Vietnam Memorial between South and Water streets.
The eleven vets who took the case to trial argued that it should not be a crime — no matter what time of day it was — to solemnly read the names of the 1,754 military personnel from New York State who were killed in action during Vietnam, as well as the thousands more names of KIA from Afghanistan and Iraq.
“They were doing exactly what this memorial was designed for,” defense lawyer Martin Stolar had said in closing arguments in the bench trial yesterday.
Prosecutors had countered that reading all 8,000 names would have taken several hours, and that policing the group for that long would have diverted resources from other police work.
“I’m very, very happy,” said World War II vet Jay Wenk, 86. “The only thing that tarnishes it is that before it was dismissed, we were found guilty — but I’ll take it,” said Wenk, who holds a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
“We thought we had a right to read the names of the dead at a Vietnam Memorial,” added ‘Nam vet Sam Adams, 63.
It would have been better had the police let the sombre remembrance continue, or if prosecutors had dismissed the charges, Adams said.
Still, he said, ” I understand that a dismissal in the interest of justice doesn’t happen everyday, so I’m happy about that.”