By AP
Tulsa, OK – Occupy Tulsa protesters reject plea deal for violating city park curfew in November
TULSA, Okla. (AP) Dozens of Occupy Tulsa protesters, including those who were doused with pepper spray, have rejected plea deals in municipal court.
About 30 of the protesters vowed through their attorney, Oliver Arbogast, Tuesday to fight the complaints in court, maintaining that the First Amendment trumps city ordinances such as ones that regulate curfew violations.
More Occupy protesters attended the hearing to present a united front, clogging the halls of the court building.
Arbogast told Municipal Judge Mitchell McCune the group would enter guilty pleas, and he asked for more time to prepare motions that could prove that the activists were within their rights to protest.
McCune ordered the motions to be submitted by March 2 and gave prosecutors until March 23 to file responses. A hearing was set for April 5.