Original Article Federal judge rules against demonstrators in raid to get Elian Elin Gonzlez protesters were tear-gassed May 7, 2005 By Madeline Bar Diaz, Miami Bureau Five years after Cuban castaway Elin Gonzlez was removed from the Little Havana home of his Miami relatives in a pre-dawn raid, a federal judge has ruled against a group of people who said federal agents used excessive force when they tear-gassed them as they stood outside the home. In a 19-page decision issued Friday, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said the 13 demonstrators and bystanders failed to show enough credible evidence that federal officers' use of force during the April 22, 2000, raid was "unreasonable under the circumstances." The people had sued the government for $3.25 million, saying they had lingering injuries after they were sprayed at close range. Moore excluded most of the original plaintiffs in the case, limiting the suit to those who were on their property or behind police barricades at the time of the raid. The conservative legal group Judicial Watch filed suit on behalf of most of the plaintiffs. The judge also barred evidence of anti-Cuban bias and excluded testimony by former Miami Mayor Joe Carollo as irrelevant. "We're upset by [the ruling]," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. "Our client's testimony was clear that they were attacked without justification. The court is simply discounting it. It's another blow to the Cuban American community, who feel rightly aggrieved over the raid and the way they were treated during the raid, during the Gonzalez affair." Fitton said the plaintiffs were considering an appeal. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys argued that the tear gas the agents used was the minimum amount of non-lethal force needed to deal with a situation in which some of the people outside the Gonzlez home were assaulting officers. "We're pleased with the ruling," Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said. Elin, who was 6 at the time of the raid, became a symbol for the Cuban-American community after he survived a shipwreck that killed his mother and several others as they tried to come to the United States. Many in the Cuban-American community, who fought government efforts to return him to his father, held demonstrations outside the home of his relatives in Miami. A federal appeals court ordered the boy reunited with his father, and after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case they returned to Cuba. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Madeline Bar Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4988953,00.html Judge Rules Against 13 in Elian Raid Suit Saturday May 7, 2005 1:31 AM By JENNIFER KAY Associated Press Writer MIAMI (AP) - A federal judge Friday ruled against awarding damages to 13 people who were tear-gassed by immigration agents during the raid to seize 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez in April 2000. U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore issued a 19-page decision saying that the demonstrators and bystanders failed to show enough credible evidence that federal officers' use of force during the raid was ``unreasonable under the circumstances.'' The 13 people had sued the government for $3.25 million, claiming they had lingering injuries after they were sprayed at close range while on their own property or behind barricades. Three neighbors testified that an agent gassed them without warning from 2 to 4 feet away as they stood alone in their fenced front yards. But the judge agreed with the government's argument that officers did not use excessive force and that the plaintiffs failed to show that they were sprayed at close range. The April 22, 2000, raid led to the boy's eventual return to Cuba with his father. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they planned to appeal. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami declined comment. Elian was rescued from the Atlantic Ocean on Thanksgiving Day 1999 after a shipwreck killed his mother and others trying to reach Florida by boat. The then-Immigration and Naturalization Service turned him over to relatives in Miami, who balked when the government decided he should go back to Cuba. During the non-jury trial, Justice Department attorneys argued that the tear-gassing of bystanders was ``an unavoidable consequence'' in the frantic raid in a densely populated neighborhood that had been the center of the heated custody battle. Judicial Watch attorney Michael Hurley called the gassing ``an overreaction'' and argued that agents went beyond the raid plan, which called for the use of gas only after an order was given to repel ``a mass breach'' of demonstrators at a barricade. He said no order was given, and there was no major breach. ``Our clients testified quite directly that they were assaulted without justification, many of them on their own property at the time they were assaulted,'' Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said Friday. The conservative legal group represented 12 of the plaintiffs. A January ruling said that the use of gas during the raid was reasonable and allowed under Florida law. Originally 96 people filed suit, but only 13 plaintiffs' claims for assault and battery and emotional distress remained. The Easter weekend raid snatched the screaming boy from a bedroom closet. Father and son headed home to instant celebrity and visits with Cuban President Fidel Castro. To mark the raid's five-year anniversary, Elian, now 11, read a speech at a televised event in Havana. Castro was among thousands in the audience.