San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, November 23, 2000
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writers

The mixed verdict came late Tuesday against Jason (Todd) Swindell, 27, and David Pasquarelli, 33, in the attack on Dr. Mitchell Katz, who was covered with Silly String and pamphlets during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors' Finance and Labor Committee on Aug. 9.

Yesterday Katz was out of the country and could not be reached for comment on the outcome, which was claimed as victory by both sides in the battle between dissident activists and the city over their tactics of disrupting AIDS- related meetings.

Swindell was found guilty of misdemeanor disturbing the peace and violating a restraining order to stay away from Judy Leahy of the AIDS group Project Inform, who was attending the supervisors committee meeting.

Swindell was found not guilty of resisting arrest. The jury deadlocked on charges of battery and disturbing a public meeting.

Pasquarelli was found guilty of disturbing the peace but acquitted of battery. He was also cleared of violating the restraining order; he says he didn't know Leahy was at the meeting. The jury hung on charges of disturbing the meeting and resisting arrest.

Pasquarelli faces a maximum of 90 days in jail or probation. Swindell could be jailed for up to a year for violating the restraining order.

Pasquarelli claimed victory, even though he was convicted of some charges.

"It's a total win in our court," he said. "They accused us of violence and battery, and the jury found us not guilty on both counts. The jury saw this for what it is: a case of criminalizing debate and silencing AIDS dissent." ACT UP/San Francisco has for years been at odds with mainstream AIDS groups over its philosophy that HIV does not cause AIDS.

Pasquarelli said ACT UP/San Francisco members had no idea Project Inform employees -- whom he and Swindell had been ordered to stay away from -- were in the supervisors' meeting room.

"If they were afraid of us, they failed to tell the police," Pasquarelli said. "It was a packed room. Seventeen of the 23 Project Inform employees we're supposed to stay away from we've never seen."

District Attorney Terence Hallinan was pleased by the outcome.

"We got a conviction -- it was not an easy case," he said. "The defense attorneys argued that it was only a momentary disruption, but the verdicts showed the jury did understand the issue that this was an attempt to interfere with the city's AIDS program."

Hallinan said any probation should contain provisions to protect city officials from further incidents. "We want them to stop this."

"It was a surprisingly strong finding against them," said Martin Delaney, founding director of Project Inform and one of those whom ACT UP/San Francisco members have been ordered to stay away from. "We're pleased with the verdict. It's clear that now not only judges but juries won't tolerate disruptions at meetings, and assault cases will be interpreted as violence."

Earlier this month, five members of ACT UP/San Francisco were barred from coming within 100 yards of offices or employees of the AIDS service organization Project Inform.

That ruling stemmed from an April scuffle at a Project Inform meeting that led to charges of assault and trespassing. Group members allegedly pushed past security and pelted the founding director of Project Inform with pill-like pellets.

ACT UP, an acronym for AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, came to prominence in the late 1980s at the height of the AIDS epidemic by demanding lower drug prices and research for a cure.

ACT UP/San Francisco splintered in the early '90s. Since 1994, ACT/UP San Francisco has been led by a handful of HIV-positive activists who say they have been living healthy lives without medication.

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