A New York City judge convicted 11 Vietnam veterans and one World War II veteran of trespassing for refusing to stop reading the names of the dead at a war memorial.
But Manhattan judge Robert Mandelbaum then dismissed the convictions. According to the New York Post, he said justice was best served by dismissing the case.
The veterans were among 25 people arrested last fall for refusing leave the Vietnam Memorial in Lower Manhattan at 10 p.m. curfew. The men argued that reading aloud the names of the war dead should not be a crime--no matter what the time.
Prosecutors argued it would have taken hours to read all 8,000 names of the military personal killed in action during Vietnam from New York and the thousands dead from fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
NY Judge Dismisses Conviction Against 12 Veterans
The vets refused to stop reading the names of the dead at the Vietnam Memorial in Lower Manhattan
Copyright AP - Associated Press
