Reporting on the trial of seven Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission activists accused of obstructing the Colorado Springs St. Patrick's Day parade, an August 24 Denver Post article omitted reported allegations that city police used excessive force to bar the protesters from marching. The Post omitted these allegations despite having reported on March 18 that "[p]rotesters provided photos that appear to show 65-year-old Elizabeth Fineron with bruises and scrapes on her hip after she had been dragged by two police officers across the street."

In contrast to the Post, The Gazette of Colorado Springs (accessed through the newspaper's electronic edition) reported on August 24 that parade organizer John O'Donnell's “decision to ban the marchers from the March 17 parade led to a fracas that brought the parade to a halt, the arrests of seven protesters and a public-relations disaster for the city when photographs were made public showing police apparently handling protesters roughly.” The Gazette further reported that some of the protesters “were handcuffed or put in armlocks, and one protester in her 60s, Elizabeth Fineron, suffered a large welt when police dragged her from the street.”

As the Post reported, “Seven peace activists went on trial Thursday for allegedly intentionally blocking the St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 17, but emotions inside the courtroom indicated more than minor charges were at stake.” The article continued:

“This case does involve a peace march that happened during the 2007 St. Patrick's Day Parade,” defense attorney Greg Walta said during jury selection. “God knows we're in a difficult time. We're in a war, and there's a debate about whether we should have gone there, and now there is a debate on how we should get out. There are strong feelings on both sides.”

Walta's opening comment evoked plenty of emotion from a few prospective jurors in a city with five military bases.

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A jury of four women and two men was eventually selected and will decide whether the seven intentionally halted the parade.

They marched under a permit received by Eric Verlo, who owns Bookman, a company that passes out books at schools, libraries and social events.

The group, which also marched in 2006 with peace-sign shirts under the Bookman permit, waited in a staging area for up to an hour before the parade started.

When it began, a parade volunteer told the parade chairman that the Pikes Peak Peace and Justice Commission, an anti-war group, was marching in the parade. Many of the “St. Paddy's Day Seven” are associated with that group.

Since the parade rules say no groups promoting social issues can march in the parade, organizers asked police to keep them from marching.

While the article quoted Walta's statement that “What happened [during the parade] was not criminal,” the Post failed to include reported incidents of alleged police brutality. The Post also failed to report that, as documented by the online political daily news website Colorado Confidential on March 19, “Colorado Springs police ... launched an internal investigation into the arrests” of the protesters. Colorado Confidential reported that Colorado Springs “officers were captured on camera and videotape dragging 65-year old Elizabeth Fineron across the street, resulting in a nasty road rash on her upper thigh and stomach” and further noted:

The images also show police holding retired Catholic priest Frank Cordaro in a pressure point control that is designed to force compliance through pain, as well as detainees lying face down on the street in handcuffs as parade-watchers look on.

Additionally, after noting on May 9 that "[i]t's been two months since Colorado Springs Police were caught on video and on camera dragging 65-year old Elizabeth Fineron across the street in the middle of a St. Patrick's Day parade," Colorado Confidential reported that “the city's new police chief, Richard Myers, said in a City Council meeting that, 'we deeply regret that this happened.' Myers also said an internal investigation has determined that the officers violated no department policies in their handling of the situation.”

Also in contrast to the Post, The Gazette reported:

The attorney for the seven, Greg Walta, said in his opening that the arrests were the result of a “disastrous miscommunication” by organizers, who put police in a “no-win position” by asking them to remove the marchers.

“What happened that day was not criminal. There were no criminals out in the street that day,” Walta said. “There were some confused people, there were a lot of mad people and there were some angry people who felt that they'd been mistreated.”