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HARASSMENT IN THE NEWS JURY CONVICTS TWO AND FREES ONE IN MOB ASSAULTS AFTER PARADE from the New York Times , April 3, 2001 By SHAILA K. DEWAN Two men were convicted yesterday of rioting and assault in connection with a melee in which women were groped after the National Puerto Rican Day Parade last year. A third man was acquitted. After five days of deliberations and repeated requests to review testimony, a State Supreme Court jury in Manhattan found David Garcia, 33, and Abel Ortiz, 24, both of the Bronx, guilty of seven counts each of rioting and assault. Mr. Garcia was also convicted of sexual abuse. Juan Miranda, 22, of Paterson, N.J., who had been charged with one count of sexual abuse, was acquitted. Mr. Garcia and Mr. Ortiz are to be sentenced on April 30. Rioting carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison, while assault and sexual abuse can bring seven years. The case centered on seven amateur videotapes that showed women being splashed with water, surrounded and, in some cases, undressed by mobs of men. "I think these are very significant convictions in light of the difficulty of identifying people in these amateur videos," said Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney. "Obviously, the most difficult cases were left for trial." Of the 30 men charged after the melee in Central Park last June, the three defendants were the only ones to stand trial. Eleven cases were dismissed, and 16 people pleaded guilty to rioting or sexual abuse and received sentences ranging from probation to four years. Few of the 22 victims who testified at the trial identified Mr. Garcia or Mr. Ortiz as their attackers. But because the two men were found guilty of rioting, the law holds them responsible for any violence that occurred during the riot. Maxine Rosenthal, the lead prosecutor, argued in her closing statement that the defendants had helped create an atmosphere that made sexual abuse permissible. Mr. Ortiz's wife, Brigitte, said the verdict was unfair. "They found him guilty for women that he wasn't even near," she said. Mr. Garcia was accused of slapping the buttocks of two women who could be seen on videotape but were never identified. His lawyer, Verena Powell, argued that the women had been willing participants. The jury found him guilty of sexually abusing one but not the other. Mr. Ortiz was charged with four counts of abusing one woman. The jury found him not guilty on three counts and deadlocked on the fourth. Mr. Miranda, who had been accused of groping a woman's crotch, left the courthouse free to return to his job as a network operator. He had been placed on leave without pay, he said. "I don't feel good," he said. "I feel every defendant was not guilty." But he did not deny that women had been attacked. "Definitely, it was something going on in the park," he said. "It looked like everything started out as a game and it went from worse to worse."