Cecily McMillan, the Occupy Wall Street activist, was sentenced to three months in prison and five years probation on Monday morning after being found guilty of deliberately elbowing an officer in the face in March 2012.
McMillan, 25, and her attorneys had argued that the elbowing occurred after Officer Grantley Bovell grabbed McMillan's breast from behind and she was simply reacting. After her arrest, McMillan appeared on Democracy Now, looking both shaken and bruised, including a bruise shaped like a handprint abover her breast.
However, the prosecution accused McMillan of attacking Bovell, 35, as he walked her out of Zuccotti Park in March, 2012, and showed the jury grainy footage of the elbowing incident. The Manhattan jury apparently believed the prosecution's account and and found McMillan guilty of second degree assault. But after her conviction, nine of the twelve jurors wrote a letter to the judge, urging leniency when they learned that McMillan could be sentenced to seven years behind bars. Pussy Riot and five City Council members also urged leniency in sentencing.
Her conviction was the most serious of dozens against activists in the Occupy movement. It is also believed to be the last.
Asked by Mashable if she felt cheated by the American justice system, McMillan laughed “abso-f*cking-lutely.”