Protesters Who Threw Pies At Willie Brown Get Maximum Sentence

Jet, March 22, 1999

Three protesters who were convicted of misdemeanors for smashing pies in the face of San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. recently received sentences of six months in jail.

The New York Times reported that the protesters, identified as Justin Gross, Rahula Janowsky and Gerald Livernois, had originally been given sentences of three-years' probation but refused, claiming the conditions of the probation would unfairly keep them from pursuing their civil rights and free speech. As a result, Judge Ernest Goldsmith of the San Francisco Superior Court handed down the maximum sentence.

The pie-throwing incident occurred last November when Brown spoke in the city's downtown area. The protesters were reportedly upset at his policies on homelessness.