More victories for Occupy Wall Street as their cases go to trial:

Yesterday Sarah Maceda-Maciel, charged with blocking traffic and failing to follow police orders on November 17th, also had her case dismissed, after the police witness again failed to show. In this instance, apparently, the officer is on maternity leave.

A second case scheduled for trial yesterday was continued. Emmet Kavanaugh and his legal team were ready, and were under the impression that the prosecutor was too. But the police witness didn't come to court, so Kavanaugh, who lives in Philadelphia, will have to come back to court in late October.

While many Occupy protesters feel vindicated by the string of victories, others see the rulings as evidence that the NYPD never made the arrests with any intention of securing convictions.

Wednesday is the largest group of Occupy Wall Street cases to come to trial, twenty-two cases, consolidated into four trials. All the charges in today's cases stem from the first mass arrests used against the movement on September 24, 2011.

The butterfly is free to fly! A judge tossed out charges against Occupy Wall Street's "Freedom Fairy," after the NYPD tried to stop the glittery pink butterfly from flitting and floating on and around Wall Street.

Via:

Parade personality Marni Halasa was slapped with a ticket for “impeding pedestrian traffic” with her flowing pink silk chiffon costume during a protest at the lower Manhattan plaza in March.

She appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge said the summons was “insufficient” and dismissed the charges without ruffling a feather.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that I was impeding pedestrian traffic with silk chiffon wings and Rollerblades,” said Halasa, who was ready to plead not guilty and request her day in court for the alleged offense.

“I wanted the case to go further to really challenge the law.”

Halsa's attorney said that the judge felt the charges against her weren't warranted.

[Video:Occupy Albany's peaceful march on May 1st, 2012.]

In yet another victory for the Occupy movement, all charges were dismissed against 20 Occupy Albany protesters who were arrested on May Day after the District Attorney notified the court that he would not prosecute peaceful protesters.

Via:

A City Court judge has dismissed the cases of 20 Occupy Albany protesters arrested last week for violating the state curfew in Lafayette Park across from the Capitol.

Judge Thomas Keefe dismissed the trespassing and disorderly conduct charges — both noncriminal violations — Monday after District Attorney David Soares' office notified the court it would again decline to prosecute the offenses.

The protesters were arrested May 1 for staying in the park after an 11 p.m. curfew, the validity of which they refused to acknowledge.

Soares has refused to prosecute nonviolent protesters who are exercising their First Amendment rights without damaging property or injuring police — a stance he reiterated last week when Occupy Albany prepared to return to the downtown parks in force for the first time since December.

"I'm not going to be prosecuting peaceful protesters," Soares said last week. "So long as we have no damage to property or injury to police, I will continue to abide by the peaceful coexistence policy we implemented when the Occupy movement was here late last year."

A quick "Google" search, and you can see the pages upon pages of reports from across the country of "Charges Dropped" against Occupy protesters. As the lawsuits against individual cities and police departments roll in for wrongful arrests, and injuries received during arrests and protests it will bear watching to see if this begins to translate into a general acceptance of the movement's First Amendment right of free speech and an end to the brutal oppression by some police forces.