Twitter handed over the tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protester to a Manhattan judge this morning — thus sidestepping any possible contempt of court fine.
The tweets — requested by the Manhattan District Attorney — were handed to Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino in a sealed envelope and will remain off limits to DA Cy Vance pending Twitter’s appeal.
The published tweets became the subject of a legal tussle since July after Vance wanted to get his hands on them as evidence OWS protesters knowingly disregarded police instructions not to march onto the Brooklyn Bridge during an April protest.
Malcolm Harris was one of about 700 OWS protesters who marched onto the bridge, and his tweets from around that time have since been deleted from public view. Vance’s office believes the messages will bolster the case.
OWS protesters claims the police instructions were ambiguous.
Twitter at first refused to obey the subpoena and Sciarrino threatened to hold the company in contempt and levy hefty fines if they didn’t.
Twitter appealed the ruling but Sciarrino wanted the tweets in hand while the appeal proceeded.
Twitter had until today to hand over the tweets.
The Post reported exclusively yesterday that Twitter would fold and give up the fight.
gsloane@nypost.com