The jury got it right in this case.
This was a mutual combat situation. The guy selling buttons got himself involved in political rhetoric. A crowd gathered outside the meeting, and this guy fueled the fire by selling political rhetoric buttons while shouting at the crowd who was heckling him.
The hecklers, made fun of him, he stepped forward and away from his Button / flag stand and in an equal fashion, shouted at the SEIU members who were heckling him. Kenneth Gladney threw the FIRST PUNCH before the SEIU members cleaned his clock.
The jury, finding that Gladney encouraged the action was NOT savagely beaten or beaten without provocation.
Its a proper ruling and I hope he learned a lesson about jumping on the political bandwagon and being led to a meeting with heated and charged political rhetoric by political action committees.
In my case, in my area, the Lyndon LaRouche group were in town with their literature, stands and young men standing in front of supermarkets, post offices and libraries. ON their stands, they post large pictures of President Obama in various poses dressed like Adolf Hitler. They even add the little mustache to Obamas face.
As you walk up, they approach you and try to hand you literature while reciting some craziness about saving the country. One day, I visited my local market with three other guys on our harleys on our way out of town.
I was approached by one of the guys and as he tried to forcefully hand me some brochure, I told him very clear to move the friend* out of my way. He said " you must be one of those liberal wackos who likes the kenyan dictator". There was a crowd who were mainly dealing with the other guy asking why they defaced the president in this fashion.
In the meantime, the guy in front of me continued his attempted tirade until I put him on the ground. He attempted to get up and I put him down again. He started yelling "help, help help" "ive been assaulted", but it fell on deaf ears.
His cohort, came over and tried to defend him but my group made sure he was no threat. We let the guy get up and told him to pack up and hit the road. They called the Sheriff who came with three cars. We were questioned, witnesses were questioned and we were let go.
NO charges filed, NO arrests.
The sheriffs determined that the men were "antagonizing" the crowd and got what they asked for. They Agreed that their stand was politically charged rhetoric that was "inciting' trouble. They ordered the men to pack up and leave. I filed a complaint with the store manager along with the crowd who witnessed the event and the store then prevented these wackos from ever returning to their property.
Political rhetoric causes violence. Forcible rhetoric gets people hurt.
The case you cite is no different than my case. The guy got what he came for. A heated argument, a face full of fists and a trip to the hospital. The jury ruled properly.
Peace.
P.S.
Larouche group puts out garbage like this :
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/18750
http://www.larouchepac.com/home
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/18590