Acosta v. Costa Mesa trial to start today

Opening arguments in a Latino activist’s freedom-of-speech lawsuit against Costa Mesa is expected to begin this morning in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

The American Civil Liberties Union is representing plaintiff Benito Acosta, who also goes by the name Coyotl Tezcatlipoca.

Acosta claims that city officials violated his 1st Amendment rights when he was arrested at a Costa Mesa City Council meeting in January 2006.

Police arrested him on suspicion of disturbing an assembly, interfering with a city council meeting and resisting a police officer, after the activist refused to leave a speaker’s podium when Mayor Allan Mansoor asked him to leave.

Acosta was speaking against a proposal to train city police officers to enforce immigration laws.

An Orange County Superior Court judge threw out all criminal charges against Acosta stemming from the arrest. A state appellate court later upheld the judge’s decision.

In his lawsuit, Acosta is asking the city to pay him unspecified damages. He also is asking the court to make the city take steps to ensure that similar incidents don’t take place.