Motion to Dismiss Charges against Notre Dame 88 to be Heard Tomorrow

LifeSiteNews ^ | 12/2/09 | LifeSiteNews

[wagglebee]

December 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lawyers for the 88 pro-life protesters who were arrested on the University of Notre Dame's campus earlier this year will be heading to court tomorrow in St. Joseph County, Indiana, to argue in favor of a motion to dismiss the charges against the pro-lifers.

Currently trespassing charges are pending against the 88, who were arrested on Notre Dame property while protesting the commencement speech and honorary law degree given to pro-abortion President Barack Obama in May. If convicted, the pro-lifers could face up to 1 year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Despite repeated requests from lawyers from the Thomas More Society, who are representing the pro-lifers, that Notre Dame request that the charges be dropped, University President Fr. John Jenkins has continued to refuse to do so.

In response to those who have contacted Jenkins expressing concern about the charges, Fr. Jenkins has responded by saying that Notre Dame doesn't have the power to drop the charges against the 88. However, while this is technically true, Thomas More Society Chief Counsel Tom Brejcha told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that "it's almost frivolous" for Jenkins to suggest that Notre Dame's asking that the charges be dropped wouldn't have "decisive influence" on whether the prosecutions go forward or not.

Notre Dame's "own security forces would be indispensible witnesses in these cases," Brejcha pointed out. "Their active cooperation is required for the cases to go forward."

"To say that Notre Dame has no power is flatly wrong," Brejcha stated. "They always have the power to ask. And their asking would, in our view and based on our many years of practicing law in Indiana and elsewhere, would have great weight with the prosecutor."

Jenkins has also responded to concerned pro-lifers by saying that the university has already requested leniency by offering "pre-trial diversion" to the protesters.

Accepting the offer of "pre-trial diversion" would mean that the defendants would have to pay court costs of several hundred dollars, avoid any trouble with the law for 1 year, and promise to stay off Notre Dame property for a certain period of time, in exchange for the charges being dropped after a year, pending satisfactorily meeting the conditions.

But Brejcha told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that while some of the arrested protestors have accepted the offer "because of the coercive impact of the fact that they have to pay for expenses and have this thing hanging over their heads," the rest have refused to do so because "they don't think they did anything wrong."

Brejcha said that he recently encountered Fr. Jenkins in Chicago, where he asked the priest why he hasn't asked that the charges be dropped. Jenkins countered that he had already asked for leniency, and asked, "Why won't they (the protesters) take this pre-trial diversion?"

Brejcha said that he responded, "Well, Father, like Dr. King, whose relation with Fr. Hessburgh you celebrated at the commencement … like Dr. King these folks don't think they did anything wrong."

There is also the complicating factor that the offer of pre-trial diversion only extends to those who have had no prior involvement with the criminal justice system. But, "of course, some of these pro-lifers do," said Brejcha. They "are up in years and were active in the rescue movement back in the 80s and early 90s," and have been arrested in the past for pro-life activities.

Brejcha also said that, based on his conversation with the university president, the irony of the situation - of the pro-lifers being "arrested by Our Lady's university which professes to espouse pro-life values" - seemed "to be lost" on Jenkins.

"Jenkins intends to march in the March for Life on Jan 22," said Brejcha. "Yet, one of the people who is being prosecuted is Norma McCorvey. The whole purpose of that march to advocate for the overturn of Roe v. Wade regime. And of course Jane Roe is Norma McCorvey and she'll be facing prosecution in St. Joseph County before an Indiana jury for marching on Notre Dame. So the irony of that is also lost on him."

[wagglebee]

"To say that Notre Dame has no power is flatly wrong," Brejcha stated. "They always have the power to ask. And their asking would, in our view and based on our many years of practicing law in Indiana and elsewhere, would have great weight with the prosecutor."

I think that Jenkins actually wants them to go to jail.

[wagglebee]

Pro-Life Ping

[wagglebee]

Notre Dame Ping

[Salvation]

Ping for Notre Dame 88.

Prayers needed.

[wagglebee]

Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or DirtyHarryY2K to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]

[ConorMacNessa]

"Despite repeated requests from lawyers from the Thomas More Society, who are representing the pro-lifers, that Notre Dame request that the charges be dropped, University President Fr. John Jenkins has continued to refuse to do so."

Jenkins is working hand-in-hand with the Devil in this thing! Sorry for uttering the obvious.

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[the anti-mahdi]

Had they been protesting the Iraq War or some other leftist cause they would not have been arrested. Unfortunately, advocting for the rights of the unborn is a criminal activity.

It would be divine justice if this pig priest had a brain aneurism and spent the rest of his despicable life tubed and helpless. Or not.

[Bon mots]

They should charge those professors who lynched those innocent boys in the local press.

[BykrBayb]

Jenkins is a moron.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Political correctness turns many people on all issues upside down. Where’s the political movement to really end all political correctness, including really ending everything associated with political correctness?

[EternalVigilance]

[Venturer]

Jenkins needs to be removed from Notre Dame.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I think it's malicious to wish a brain aneurism on anybody. Maybe you just meant that as a sort of analogy, but it does contrast with what Christ said in Matthew 5:44-45:

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."

I want for Fr. Jenkins what I would want for myself: sincere and active repentance in this life; and in the life to come, mercy.

[Cicero]

Frankly, it seems to me an inescapable fact that Fr. Jenkins is evil. As long as he refuses to do the right thing in this case, it seems to me that any confessions that he makes would be invalid. No confession is valid if a mortal sin is deliberately omitted, and reparation for that sin should surely include forgiving the “trespassers.”

He should not be saying Mass or receiving Communion until he repairs this scandalous, excommunicable offense against God and the Church.

Most of the arrested protestors weren’t even carrying “offensive” signs. They were on a Catholic campus, reciting Catholic prayers, singing Catholic hymns, and carrying crosses or pictures of Our Lady. Yet the counter protestors who celebrated Obama were left alone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpepuXN0WOM

[wagglebee]

I agree completely.

[Cicero]

And then there’s the longer video of the arrest of Fr. Norman Weslin by Pass the Salt.

Perhaps one of the most moving videos I have ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiz4tfjSuPc&NR=1

Protestants and Catholics working together, in the cause of Life.

[wagglebee]

Fr. Weslin lives the Gospel as faithfully as anyone alive.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Jenkins may very well end up in eternal jail for worshipping the wrong messiah.

[the anti-mahdi]

I am confident your good wishes will be granted. The priest is acting on his own wishes as well. Your wishes will bring you good—his will bring him something else. If not, then I misunderstand the admonition of Jesus that anyone who harms a child would be better off if he had a millstone around his neck and dropped into the sea.

This priest is a baby killing enthusiast, who is actively supporting the prosecution of people who wish to protect the unborn. He could plead for the charges to be dropped. He won’t. I hope he is a good swimmer...

[Mrs. Don-o]

Well, I agree that unless he repents he's headed for permanent spiritual catastrophe. I would leave aneurism out of it: hell is a hell of a lot worse.

May he repent. May our nation repent. Unless we do, as Jesus said, "It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for this generation."