Posted on 01/04/2008 5:12:45 PM PST by concretebob
Government case collapses during trial -- judge dismisses all charges
An important victory was won today in the case of 11 defendants who were arrested at the Sept. 15 March on the Capitol, which drew 100,000 anti-war protestors to Washington, DC.
Judge Henry Greene of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia dismissed all charges against the defendants, who were accused of crossing a police line. The government's case collapsed in the early stages of the trial during the the testimony of a witness from the Capitol Police.
The protestors asserted that the government and the Capitol Police had illegally and unconstitutionally sought to prevent demonstrators from engaging in First Amendment protected speech and assembly in an area in front of the Capitol building routinely kept open to tourists and others. This attempt to exclude people engaging in free speech activities could not form the basis for a lawful arrest or conviction for "crossing a police line."
The government's case disintegrated as protestors' attorneys demonstrated that the government had withheld key evidence from the defense.
Under pressure from the defense, the government revealed that they had withheld documents and material that was central to the defendants' challenge to the government's efforts to prevent demonstrators from exercising their First Amendment rights at Congress under the pretext of "national security," including a "police sensitive" document supposedly related to "terrorism." The defense argued that the government was using this pretext to prevent antiwar protest at a time when General David Petraeus was making the Bush administration's case that Congress should continue to fund the Iraq war.
Many of the defendants represented themselves and were given pro bono legal counsel and advice from attorneys Michael Madden, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice, Stephanie Snyder of the Georgetown Criminal Justice Clinic, and Harriet Adams. The defendants, including leaders from Veterans for Peace, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), and Iraq Veterans Against the War, were Elliot Adams, Brian Becker, Ellen Barfield, Carla Boccella, Adam Kokesh, Jay Gillen, Rodney Centeno, Polly Miller, Sholom Keller, Shawn Peterson, and Rich Reinhart.
PING the lists please
Does it matter?
The Left just proved they can make the Right blink anytime they want. Damage done.
Judge Greene was nominated to the Superior Court bench by President Reagan and sworn in on May 1, 1981.
REALLY sick of the LIES!
Witholding evidence will do it every time. Judges hate that. As well they should.
Do we want judges who rule on the law or so as to obtain particular results in one or another situation?
Is this all that bad of an outcome??? Remember, if this stuff flies against the loony left, then when Hillary is in charge it will fly against the right. I’d rather have the option to protest against some insane leftist policy and not be busted up by the SWAT team. I understand the sentiment about arresting these rabble-rousers, but we’re supposed to be defenders of the Constitution and better than the left. If you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.
Hmmm. Lefty-psycho municipal government with a chick for a police chief. Disorganized, undisciplined (often abusive), and incompetent police force. Could this be a pattern? I'm reminded of San Francisco's Heather J. Fong, Chief of Police. Appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004, her public prat-falls have been numerous.
But hold on a minute. Lest anyone think I'm saying that women appear to make utterly embarrassing police chiefs who lack the ability to exercise authority and control over the force or to achieve public order . . . um, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Unless someone knows of representative counter-examples. Stats on this question would be interesting, but probably would be so un-PC that I doubt they are obtainable.
What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
It also proves the value of playing by the rule of law.The fact that the government would withhold evidence during a trial should be an affront to every law abiding citizen.If those moonbats want to act like fools in a public place-let them.When they get disorderly,arrest them.But don’t suppress anyone’s first amendment rights.
They really do love to embellish the attendance figures don’t they
Remember the Million Man March?
That there is an in your face, cram it down your throat, blatantly manufactured LIE!
We know 'cause we was there! ;*)
I agree. But I don’t have to like it. because they’d do the same to me.
and the miserable s.o.b.s win again, with a little help, as usual, from a lame-brained anarchist federal judiciary that is neither worth a fart in a whirlwind nor a spit in a hurricane.
I must remember the /sarcasm tag. I must remember the /sarcasm tag. I must remember the /sarcasm tag. I must remember the /sarcasm tag. I must remember the /sarcasm tag.
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.