Cecily McMillan

Cecily McMillan is an American activist and advocate for prisoner rights in the United States who was arrested and subsequently convicted of felony second-degree assault. McMillan claimed she was defending herself against an attempted sexual assault by a New York City Police officer as he led her out of the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park on March 17, 2012. McMillan's highly publicized arrest and trial led to her being called a "cause célèbre of the Occupy Wall Street movement". McMillan said that her breast was grabbed and twisted by someone behind her, to which she says she responded to by reflexively elbowing her perceived attacker in the face. The officer involved, Grantley Bovell, testified that she deliberately assaulted him; a video showed McMillan "bending her knees, then throwing her right elbow into the officer's eye". She was arrested after a brief attempt to flee, and says she was beaten by police during her arrest. McMillan was convicted of felony second-degree assault on May 5, 2014, and was subsequently sentenced to three months in prison and five years of probation.

Early life and education

McMillan is of Irish and Mexican descent. She was raised by her single mother in Beaumont, Texas, and spent summers in Atlanta, Georgia with her father and his family. She graduated from Lawrence University and actively participated in the 2011 Wisconsin protests where she fought to save collective bargaining from its dismantling by Governor Scott Walker. At the New School, she studied nonviolent movements and found inspiration in the works of Bayard Rustin. McMillan was known as a "dedicated pacifist" who had many discussions with her thesis adviser about the topic of nonviolence. She planned to write her master's thesis on Jane Addams and the settlement movement, but Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests interrupted her studies. ==Occupy Wall Street==

Occupy Wall Street

McMillan continued her studies at the New School, held a part-time job, and became active with the OWS Demands Working Group. During one protest, she occupied a school building along with other demonstrators, but objected to the destruction of property. Her nonviolent approach caused a riff with other protesters who had advocated trashing the building, leading the radical elements in support of the property destruction to hold a "shadow trial" where she was condemned as a "bureaucratic provocateur". While McMillan did not initially view Occupy Wall Street in a positive light, ==Zuccotti Park arrest==

Zuccotti Park arrest

On March 17, 2012, McMillan was celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Lower Manhattan when she went to Zuccotti Park to meet up with more friends. According to the police, McMillan was asked to leave the park, but refused to leave. A police officer placed a hand on her shoulder to lead her out. Accounts diverge here, with McMillan saying the officer grabbed her breast and, in return, she elbowed the police officer in the eye. The officer testified that she suddenly asked, "Are you filming this? Are you filming this?", after which she struck him in the face with her elbow. ==Trial and conviction==

Trial and conviction

The trial was held at the New York City Criminal Court. McMillan was defended by Martin Stolar, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild. McMillan said that a bruise on her breast, shown in photographs at trial, was inflicted by Officer Bovell. Prosecutors argued that Bovell did not cause the injury. They said McMillan did not report the alleged assault at either of two hospitals where she received treatment on the night of the arrest, but that the pictures were taken days later by her personal doctor. The trial lasted a month. On May 5, 2014, the twelve-person jury reached its verdict after deliberating for three hours. The jury found McMillan guilty of intentionally assaulting a police officer. The court convicted her of second-degree assault, a felony that could have resulted in a prison term of up to seven years. Justice Ronald A. Zweibel ordered her detained without bail until her sentencing on May 19. McMillan was later sentenced to three months in prison and five years of probation; she was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment. ==Imprisonment at Rikers Island==

Imprisonment at Rikers Island

McMillan served her sentence at Rikers Island Penitentiary. On May 9, members of the Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot visited McMillan on Rikers Island as part of a campaign by The Voice Project petitioning for leniency. A friend of McMillan said that McMillan was made to wait close to three weeks before receiving her prescribed ADHD medication, and that she was intermittently denied it afterwards. McMillan was released on July 2, 2014 after serving 58 days at Rikers. ==Prisoner rights advocacy==

Prisoner rights advocacy

After her release, McMillan advocated for the rights of prisoners at Rikers. In an opinion piece for The New York Times, McMillan said that inmates were denied medical treatment, humiliated, and subject to random searches. She viewed Judith's death as a potential case of medical malpractice, saying that Judith's pain medication had been switched to a dangerously high dose, and that requests to get Judith medical treatment after her condition declined were ignored. ==Second criminal case==

Second criminal case

In December 2013, McMillan was arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration after she tried to intervene when a police officer asked two people in a Union Square subway station for identification. ==Memoir==

Memoir

In 2016, McMillan's The Emancipation of Cecily McMillan, a memoir, was published by Bold Type Books. ==References==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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