[Occupy Wall Street members enter a plaza known as Duarte Square that is owned by historic Trinity Church, one of lower Manhattan's largest land-owners December 17, 2011.]

Eight protesters with Occupy Wall Street that include a retired Episcopal Bishop who won both the Bronze and Silver Stars for his service in Vietnam, have been convicted of misdemeanor trespassing for entering a lot owned by Trinity Church a month after the Zucotti Park encampment was dismantled.

A judge in Manhattan Criminal Court found the protesters guilty Monday after a weeklong trial. One of the defendants was also convicted of trying to slice through the fence's locks with bolt-cutters.

The defendants had been charged after a Dec. 17th incident when protesters scaled a chain-link fence or crawled under it to get to a lot to use it as a new camp site.

The original camp in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan was shut down in November. Protesters had wanted church officials to let them occupy the church-owned property but were refused.

[Via]