Posted on 08/26/2003 5:10:15 PM PDT by Physicist
1) The article doesn't mention that the victim, Don Adams, remains the only person actually to stand trial as a result of this incident. Originally, District Attorney Lynn Abraham was not going to press charges against the Teamster thugs, despite the fact that four TV news crews videotaped the entire incident. When Don and Teri started to pursue private criminal complaints against the Teamsters and against Morris (who ordered the attack), three Teamster women made the ludicrous claim that Don precipitated the beating by assaulting them. Incredibly, Abraham accepted this, and Don stood trial. He was ultimately acquitted.
2) The article doesn't mention that Johnny Morris died last year. He will never be brought to justice in this matter. He did, however, get his come-uppance. (More about this.)
3) Judge Yohn was the second judge to be assigned to this case. The original judge, Judge Kauffman, was replaced last September at the request of Don and Teri, after Governor Rendell admitted that they were longtime associates.
4) Motions for Summary Judgment were submitted last summer. It took the judge almost 1 year to decide. The plaintiff arguments of this case were submitted by Judicial Watch.
5) The dispute with Judicial Watch began as follows. After the summary judgment arguments were submitted last year, Don and Teri asked Judicial Watch whether they would be co-counsel with Stretton, who was Don's lead attorney when he stood trial. Judicial Watch's response was to send an (unsigned) demand for $1 million. This precipitated the dismissal.
6) Joseph Adams (a cousin of Don and Teri) is not a "new attorney" in this case. He has been involved from the very beginning.
7) Judge Yohn essentially accepted the arguments of Rendell and the Teamsters in their entirety, in rendering his decision.
8) While this is a heavy blow, it is important to remember that the entire case has not been dismissed: only count 1, the civil rights part (pending an appeal). The rest is being remanded to State court.
Who-what-where:
There was I time on FreeRepublic when I didn't have to introduce the topic of Don Adams. Other than Whitewater, it was FreeRepublic's first cause celebre.
In as few words as I can bear to muster, this is what happened. On October 2, 1998, Don and his sister Teri were beaten by members of the Teamsters Union for the crime of protesting against Clinton in Philadelphia.
(I myself had been attacked by the same mob earlier in the day, and I witnessed the Adams incident. I reported the events on FreeRepublic. In response, Jim Robinson called for a march on Washington, DC, which drew 5000 people on October 31, 1998.)
The DA filed no charges, so Don and Teri Adams pursued private criminal complaints against two of the Teamsters (Kevin McNulty and Marc Nardone), along with Teamster Local 115 boss Johnny Morris. In response, the Teamsters filed charges against Don Adams. McNulty and Nardone copped a plea and got probation. Morris walked. Don Adams was subjected to the indignity of a trial, and was acquitted in July, 1999. Meanwhile, three other Teamsters were identified from video: Charlie Davis, Mark Hopkins, and Norma Bottomer. Don and Teri Adams filed another private criminal complaint, to which the defendants copped pleas and received probation.
In November of 1999, IBT President James Hoffa ordered that Teamsters Local 115 be placed into trusteeship, and that Johnny Morris be stripped of his powers, partly as a result of the Adams beating incident. Morris contested this bitterly until the end of his life.
The civil phase has been lurching along slowly since the end of the criminal phase.
Why you should care:
It is the business of Freepers to exercise our rights under the First Amendment. When we talk back to power, we have an expectation of being secure in our persons, in our property, and in our liberty. If Don and Teri Adams lose, none of these expectations are valid. It will mean that the men in power can silence us at will, without serious consequences. Five foot-soldiers of the totalitarians have received probation. That's something. But unfortunately Don and Teri have been made to pay a long series of terrible prices over the last five years, and much more lies ahead. I expect it to get worse for them before it gets better.
Would YOU be up to it?
The Don Adams Page is now defunct, but a version of it remains cached on archive.org (Warning: slow to load).
Civil Case:
Johnny Morris criminal case:
Davis, Hopkins, Bottomer criminal case:
McNulty and Nardone criminal case:
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