Posted on 09/22/2005 10:21:51 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
BINGHAMTON, NY--The New York Times reports that one of the Ithaca, NY-area protesters who spilled human blood on a soldier and the flag in 2003 has a long history of attacks on government property.
According to the Times, Peter DeMott, one of the self-styled St. Patricks Day Four, has previous arrests for ramming a car into a nuclear submarine in 1980 and hammering and pouring blood on a different submarine in 1982 when he was part of an activist group, Plowshares, which protested the nuclear arms buildup.
DeMott and his fellow protesters, the Times reported, were portrayed as religious zealots who routinely destroy government property yet have mostly evaded consequences by prosecutors.
"You have decided unilaterally you can damage property," [the prosecutor] said, asking if [DeMott] had ever reimbursed the government. "When are you going to stop?"
One of DeMotts fellow protesters, Teresa Grady, admitted on the stand, that as a child, she had been taught by her father, a Vietnam era war protester, about "jury nullification the principle of refusing to convict a person for whom one feels sympathy with a cause, the Times reported.
DeMott and Grady, along with fellow protesters Clare Grady and Daniel Burns, all of Ithaca, are currently on trial in Federal Court in Binghamton on charges of conspiring to impede the duties of U.S. officials and damaging or injuring federal property and officials. The conspiracy charge, the most serious, carries up to six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
They are accused of going to a Army recruiting center near Ithaca on March 17, 2003, and throwing their own blood on the walls, the floor, the United States flag and Staff Sgt. Rachon Montgomery, who was working as an army recruiter that day.
The protesters, while admitting to their actions, claim they have done nothing wrong. The four, who are representing themselves, claim that their actions were legally justified because they did it to stop the United States from invading Iraq.
(Montgomery) doesn't understand exactly what's going on. Burns said in the September 22 Ithaca Journal.
Actually, this would mean that you lied during the selection process when you were asked if you could render an unbiased and fair verdict. That lie undermined the defendent and the prosecutions case... essentially saying 'no matter what is said, i will vote for/against this person.' wouldn't that be grounds for a fraud charge of some kind?
I find it funny that certain groups would use this tactic. I listened to a talk by cochran @ georgetown about how blacks should follow this tactic if ever selected for a jury involving a black person. wonder what they would think if the same thing were ever told to whites. In the end, it just a means they are trying to undermine the entire judicial system in the US. (which is already pretty messed up...)
How very islamic of them.
Why is this man not in prison instead of free to commit still more evil acts?
vaudine
Blood is a biohazzard. Throwing potentially infectious materials on people is a much more serious crime than throwing a pie. Knowing their tactics, I wouldn't be surprised if the blood he threw was infected with hepatitis or AIDS.
later possible ping...
These wretched leftists disgust me. Even with its faults, America is the noblest and the greatest country on earth. Its people are friendly, open-minded, and fair. Why is it that a foreigner like me understands what these homegrown nuts cannot?
So my next question is:
Why do they have religious rights and the rest of us do not?
These old hippies got a hung jury in the state trial and were supposed to be federally tried starting Sept. 19.
Why are the newsies rehashing the old trial info and not reporting on the status at the current trial?
The bulk of the story is about the trial testimony yesterday, which set forth the protesters' history of violence, what was done to the soldier and the statements made by the protesters while testifying in their own defense.
I just read the NYTimes story, I get it now. Thanks.
I think I will start praying for a guilty verdict and maximum sentencing. If they "protested" an abortion clinic this way they'd be facing RICO charges and you can bet the judge would through the book at them.
His looks remind me of a female Cindy Sheehan.
That's what I thought(Biohazard)...Assalt with a deadly weapon....
Thats assault with a deadly weapon....
On another score: "There was also another plowshares acquittal, which occurred in Edinburgh, Scotland during the trial of three women who disarmed Trident-related technology as part of the Trident Ploughshares 2000 campaign. "
The chicks got onboard a Trident Sub ("how?" inside job?) docked in Scotland and damaged submartine control boards.
I was thinking more along the line of being a defendant rather than juror, but jury nullification is a valid legal ruling to be used where an action, though illegal, is not wrong. See a lawyer if you want a better definition. If I were a juror I would be able to listen to the facts of the case and decide on their merits. Someone assaulting a person in the act of pouring blood on a member of our armed forces would likely cause me to nullify the charges. That does not mean I would see against a war protestor in all cases.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Miroslav Lovric continued to bring up past arrests related to protests. Clare Grady told the jury she'd been sentenced to two years in federal prison after she and others trespassed in 1983 at an Air Force base in Rome, N.Y., and damaged a bomber with hammers.Lovric asked Clare Grady about the incident at the Air Force base. He inquired if she knew about the cost of the damage, her time served in federal prison and her association with groups that have damaged government property in the past.
Grady also spoke about why the four poured blood on the American flag in the recruiting office.
That blood was already on the flag, Clare Grady said. We just made it visible.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.