Posted on 01/12/2006 9:43:51 AM PST by Jean S
The key state witness in the election day 2004 tire-slashing trial testified Wednesday that the five defendants had all come into his office "excited, kind of boisterous" that morning to brag about vandalism that stranded 25 vans Republicans had planned to use for taking voters to polls.
 Election Day Vandalism |
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Photo/Jack Orton Opel Simmons III, a Democratic Party consultant, testifies Wednesday in the trial over tire-slashings on election day 2004. |
| More Information |
 Criminal complaint |
| Recent Coverage |
 1/10/06: Outside operatives blamed in tire case 1/9/06: Tire-slashing trial opens 1/9/06: Kane: Don't compare tire case to Jim Crow 1/8/06: Tire-slashing trial to begin |
| Archive Coverage |
| Tire-Slashing Case: Previous coverage |
"I believe they were telling me they had gone to Bush-Cheney headquarters from the office and punctured the tires of the vans in the staging area," said Opel Simmons III, a Virginia consultant to the Democratic Party who was in Wisconsin for the last days of the campaign.
He was referring to the five local campaign workers - including the sons of two prominent Milwaukee Democratic politicians - now charged with felony property destruction. Sowande Omokunde, son of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee); Michael Pratt, son of former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt; and Lewis Caldwell, Lavelle Mohammad and Justin Howell face up to 3 ½ years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 if convicted.
Opening statements by some of the defense attorneys had suggested that Simmons might have been more involved in the tire-slashings - either by planning or by participation - than he let on and blamed him and other out-of-state Democratic campaigners for inflaming election-season emotions.
Simmons didn't start out being so cooperative. He was arrested by Milwaukee police later on Nov. 2, 2004, and held for two days before he was released and returned to Virginia. He said Wednesday that he initially told police "a very vague variation of the truth" until he was confronted with evidence from the investigation.
"I didn't want to mention any of the guys," said Simmons, who later gave a complete, video-recorded statement to Assistant District Attorney David Feiss that has become a significant part of the case against Simmons' former campaign co-workers.
His testimony is important because there is no eyewitness, confession or direct evidence linking the five men to the tire-slashings. Instead, Feiss has built a case that leans heavily on getting jurors to believe that Simmons and another operative who came to Milwaukee to work on the election, Levar Stoney, are truthfully repeating what they heard the defendants say around the time the tires were cut.
On direct examination by Feiss, things went by the numbers. Simmons recounted many details close to verbatim from his earlier statements.
The defendants came into Simmons' office, he testified, swapping high-fives and making sounds like air spurting out of tires. He quoted statements by Pratt, Mohammad and Caldwell the same way he had earlier.
"(Pratt) says, 'We've got 'em. They're not going anywhere today,' " Simmons said.
Later on election day, he testified, he met again with Mohammad, who was pointing to an online news story about the tire-slashings.
"He said that he should print out a copy of the article and frame it," Simmons said.
But cross-examination brought out several inconsistencies between Simmons' trial testimony and his earlier statements. Pratt's attorney, Rodney Cubbie, quizzed Simmons about withholding information from initial statements to police, but changing the story as he remained longer in custody and was confronted with more evidence.
Cubbie pointed out that Simmons said Wednesday that the defendants had mud on their shoes from the van parking lot in the 7100 block of W. Capitol Drive, a detail he hadn't mentioned before. He noted that Simmons had told investigators that another campaign worker, Lashaunda Joy Williams, had been asleep in the Democratic Party office since before the defendants left, yet a gas-station receipt found in a rental car she was later pulled over in - because its license number had been written down by the Republicans' security guard - said someone had bought gas in that car at 3:30 a.m., about the time of the tire-slashings or shortly afterward.
When testimony finished for the day Wednesday, Robin Shellow, who represents Omokunde, was beginning to quiz Simmons on how much his workers had been doing to incite extraordinary enthusiasm in the election.
Simmons had testified that he didn't go to the police as soon as the defendants admitted the tire-slashing to him because he feared Republicans would counterattack, and said Democratic campaigners had been subject to "harassing" behavior, including having their vans followed, a worker "nearly arrested" for either loitering or jaywalking near Democratic offices, and frequent ticketing of campaign vehicles.
"Unfortunately, in Milwaukee, we're all ticketed frequently," Shellow replied.
Simmons' testimony is scheduled to continue today.
Next generation 'rat operatives.
Something the 'rats can be proud of. Passing the torch so to speak.
Earning while they are learning.
Glad to see some of these bozos arrested and tried.
It was only two days after I put my Bush/Cheney bumper sticker on my car here in California that some lib keyed my paint. Cost me almost $400 more than my insurance covered.
Not only are they dirtbags but they are some of the ugliest guys I've seen. ;)
Can you imagine the national outcry that would have resulted if Bush campaigners did this to the Dems??
$10 says they don't do 3 months, let alone 3 years.
$10...is that all you got???/s
I got a $20 that says no one of them can even tell me who was running for President in '04!!
R3
the second one looks like that kid in Boondocks...
Yep, they look like Kerry supporters to me.
Democrat Youth Leadership Council members, and future America's Most Wanted celebrities.
That's all I want to lose.
These guys remind me of the commericals for Easterns Motors that play here in DC. "Your job is your credit!"
Afternoon HS,
The profile of five domestic terrorists on purview.
Sentence them all to 10 years of changing, patching, balancing and rotating tires at the "federal pen" service station.
As I See It,
NSNR-THM
"Opel Simmons III, a Virginia consultant to the Democratic Party "
Doubt he will get many more jobs with the marx-o-crats after testifying.
"Opel Simmons III"
I wonder how many times he got beat up in school having a name like that...
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