HA ha...
Posted on 01/13/2006 3:25:58 PM PST by FreeKeys
MILWAUKEE (Cour t TV) — A Democratic political consultant for the 2004 John Kerry presidential bid told jurors Tuesday that the five campaign workers accused of slashing the tires of vans rented by Republicans on Election Day boasted about the stunt.
"They were boisterous, slapping high-fives, laughing and so forth," said Opel Simmons III, a campaign strategist, referring to the five defendants after they returned to campaign headquarters at about 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2004.
Simmons, who said he saw the men leave the office about 30 minutes earlier, testified that he only learned of what they did after Michael Pratt, the son of then acting Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt, and others, spoke.
"[Pratt] says, 'We got them. They're not going anywhere today," Simmons testified.
Pratt's father was in court for much of the day Tuesday, as was U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), whose son Sowande A. Omokunde is also a defendant in the trial.
Simmons said the defendants' behavior led him to only one conclusion.
"I believe that they were telling me that they had gone from our office to the Bush-Cheney office and had punctured tires of vehicles in the staging area," he said.
Defense attorneys attempted to discredit Simmons on cross-examination by pointing out inconsistencies in his statements to police, which, the attorneys hope, will leave jurors wondering if the state's key witness was in fact one of the vandals.
Pratt, Omokunde, Justin Howell, Lewis Caldwell and Lavelle Mohammad are all charged with criminal damage to property — a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The GOP rented more than 100 vehicles for a get-out-the-vote campaign on Nov. 2, 2004. The vehicles were parked in a lot adjacent to a Bush campaign office, and party workers planned to drive poll watchers to polling places by 7 a.m. and deliver any voters who didn't have a ride.
Defense lawyers attempted to have much of Simmons' testimony ruled as hearsay and therefore inadmissible, but Judge Michael Brennan denied the motions.
Simmons said that despite plans for an election eve stunt dubbed "Operation Elephant Takeover" — a plan to placard the same Republican office where the tires were slashed — the operation was dropped after he overslept and several people were spotted still in the GOP office late at night.
When he came into the Democrat's office at about 3 a.m., Simmons said he saw all of the defendants dressed in black and then leave the building. When he asked two of them where they were going, both Mohammad and Pratt replied to the effect of, "Don't ask. You don't want to know," Simmons testified.
When they returned, aside from the boisterous behavior, their shoes were also covered in mud and the five men were making noises to mimic the deflating tires.
Caldwell then explained how they targeted tires of vans on the perimeter of the lot and on soft ground so that the numerous vehicles on the interior would be unable to exit because they would be trapped by the disabled vans.
On cross-examination, however, Pratt's lawyer, Rodney Cubbie went on the offensive, getting Simmons to concede that his testimony on the stand was inconsistent with his first police statement, which he endorsed as being truthful.
In the statement, Simmons told a detective that he did not arrive at the office until 4 a.m. that morning.
"Were you telling [the detective] a different story?" Cubbie asked.
"No," Simmons said. "I was telling him a very vague variation of the truth."
Simmons, who was detained by police when they connected a van seen by a security guard outside the Republican offices to him, said that he gave police the defendant's names only after 36 hours of incarceration.
Cross-examination of Simmons continues Wednesday morning and could take most of the day. The trial, which Court TV Extra is streaming live on the Web, is expected to last about two weeks.
More trial and crime news from Court TV
They are soooo BUSTED.
Feel that shadenfreude... MMmmmm-HM!
I find it particularly hilarious that the best the defense attorney can come up with is a half-hour discrepancy between 3:30am and 4:00am in testimony vs. the police statement.
IOW, five blinkin' idiots, dumb as sacks of hair.
They won't serve a single day in prison. Not a doubt in my mind.
But it would be nice...
As if the mayor's son and US Rep.'s son will get much more than a slap on the wrist.
One wonders if there isn't some FEDERAL charge about attempting to obstruct the voting process or some such that a ingenous federal prosecutor could find.
Can you imagine the front-page coverage this would get if it had been Republicans slashing Democratic tires?
The democratic party of today: Thugs, criminals, idiots, and communists.
Hmmm. Good thought. But I believe the ONLY Federal laws there are -- are ones which apply ONLY if the blocked voters were minorities. Anyone know for sure?
Losers' losers.
Phishhhhhh.....
They could be charged with attempting to violate the Civil Rights of persons attempting to vote. They could also be charged with Conspiracy To Commit the above, which carries a ten year Federal prison sentence.
L
bump
How soon does the civil case start?
Are you saying that there weren't any minorities who voted Repbulican that day?
The Rats were so out of control during the last election. They were hysterical and downright scarey. They will escalate if we don't prosecute - ever infraction of the law and berate them for misbehaving.
No, but that's one reason I asked if anyone knew for SURE. I thought they'd need a specific complaint from people of the minority persuasion, but I'm not sure, hence the question.
BUT -- you inspire a good idea: We should ASSUME that minorities were going to vote GOP, or at least, needed rides to the polls in those vans. THEN we should get all the publicity we can while badgering the Feds to get involved.
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