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Lawyers bicker over who is harassing whom in restraining order case against Duenez
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Duenez civil rights attorney Ben Nisenbaum questions Manteca Police officer Armen Avakian as to how his client had possibly threatened him, asserting that he had not and downplaying an alleged outburst with protruding chest and clenched fists. - photo by GLENN KAHL
It was a constant battle of who said what and what constituted harassment that was or wasn’t protected speech under the First Amendment. Both sides battled verbally for nearly five hours Friday in a packed courtroom in the Manteca Branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court over making a temporary restraining order permanent that would keep Gabriel Duenez of Lathrop away from two Manteca Police patrolmen who are claiming abusive and emotional harassment from the brother of Ernesto Duenez.Ernesto Duenez died in a police-involved shooting last June in Manteca. At one point Judge Phillip Urie reprimanded those seated in the courtroom.