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:
Teamster Trio To Be Sentenced Today For Beating Clinton ...
... and conspiracy, for the October 2, 1998, mob beating of Clinton protestors Don
Adams, and his sister, Teri Adams, during a presidential fundraising trip to ...
Thank You Rush Limbaugh (Rush discussed Don Adams,John Morris ...
... Thank You Rush Limbaugh (Rush discussed Don Adams,John Morris, Freepers&Fund'sWSJ
11-26 Article)!! Crime/Corruption Announcement Keywords: LIMBAUGH,ADAMS,MORRIS ...
Three More Teamsters Plead Guilty In Don Adams Case [Free ...
... Three More Teamsters Plead Guilty In Don Adams Case Crime/Corruption News Source:
Self Author: Teri Adams Posted on 09/12/2000 12:12:17 PDT by TAdams8591. ...
Three MoreTeamsters Plead Guilty in Don Adams Case,Thread 2! ...
... Three MoreTeamsters Plead Guilty in Don Adams Case,Thread 2!! Crime/Corruption News
Keywords: ADAMS,TEAMSTERS, JOHN MORRIS Source: Self Author: DonAdams Posted ...
Bill & Hill's Pal Union Boss Arthur A. Coia Forced To ...
... The Don Adams Defense Fund. PO Box 306. Cheltenham, PA 19012. 11 Posted
on 10/01/1999 20:13:47 PDT by po'boy [ Reply | To 8 | Top | Last ] ...
Last of the Molly Maguires (ATTENTION!! re:The Man who had ...
... Last of the Molly Maguires (ATTENTION!! re:The Man who had Don Adams Assaulted--TAdams8591)
Crime/Corruption News Keywords: JOHN MORRIS, DON ADAMS Source: Time ...
Of Guns and Goons [Free Republic]
... Teamster beatings at the anti-Clinton rally was to press assault charges against
Don Adams, one of the protesters who was beaten up; Mr. Adams ultimately was ...
"A republic, if you can keep it" bump...
Getting probation for assult is preposterous!
While the results could have been better, bro, I am calling this a win. Don never should have been hauled into court, but OTOH, lots of people are hauled into court that shouldn't be, every day. The bad guys have got violent arrests on their records, as well as convictions for lesser charges, and probation. All in all, not all that bad. I'm sorry you lost the civil case, but on the whole, you got at least a HALF pound of flesh from the bastichs.
Add me to the ping list if you would be so kind.
If she/they need help again, I'll send what I can. I'm sure every little bit helps.
Why should Don's trial -- or his subsequent acquittal for that matter -- be mentioned by this rag, Physicist??
Why?
This entire article has served do nothing more than blur the real issue(s) employing so much gobbledegook my head'll be spinning for the remainder of the day.
The sycophant scribe/moron spun the entire matter in favor of the 'Rat Rendall & it's painfully obvious.
She sure as hell wasn't about to serve Don & Teri by citing the facts of this entire case for the public, as it were.
If the union monster-thugs are the left's "foot soldiers," as some have said?
Than the mediots (& *especially* this rag & the quisling urinalist) are the voices who're responsible for this kind of crap being excused providing the ideology is in-line with the "cause."
Sorry to have to say it, but, what else is new.
The "media arm" of the Liberal-Socialist machine has spoken, "done their job" -- again -- & the constitution be damned.
"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."
Getting the goons convicted was undoubtably due almost entirely to that video tape, Physicist.
Considering the "justice" Reginald Denny recieved in LA under like circumstances, y'all are wayyyyy ahead of the "game" getting those precious convictions
"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."
How many of the goons were convicted of assualt & subsequently placed on probation, 3? 4?
Those individual Teamster members were participating at that *rally* solely due to the invitation of their Teamster local; &, that can be proven using the ex-mayor's own words, right?
The now convicted Teamster members -- *&* the local sponsoring 'em -- must be sued for damages.
That means the local *&* the UTA are the "deep pockets" you'll have in your sights.
Not the useful idiot goons who'll claim not to have two nickels to rub together.
As another wise poster already noted, this is not without precedent.
There are some striking similarities between what Morris Dees & his SPLC did to the KKK and what the Admas people can do to the UTA *&* their local.
Don't permit anyone to say otherwise, either.
But for now one thing at a time...nail these union members, their local, and the UTA.
Get that order screwed up & I'd bet that'll give the opposition the oportunity to make this relatively simple matter of assualt so complicated the result will be to blur it beyond recognition.
Which'll of course surely have the desired effect of making any kind of judgement *for* the Adams people nearly a complete impossibility.
That tack is straight outa the Clintigula "book of law" y'know, as we all have seen it used by the thief & his cronnies time & again during an 8 year reign of terror.
This case must be "built" one simple course at a time; if, any real progress/success is to ever be expected.
Legally it is up to y'all to show one tree through the forest.
...Mrs f; a FYI on matters happening in your neck of the woods.
What a hoot..JW's only skill is fundraising and publicity hunting..if someone ever wanted to vanish, they should sign on with Judicial Watch..the Witness Relocation plan of law firms..
You, Don, and Terri fought the good fight over this. Don't feel like you "lost", because you didn't.
Lest some think that this was a one time occurance, there is this thread that I had bookmarked:
Hillary's Advance Man: We Set 'Goon Squads' on Protesters
There are a number of similar incidents linked in that thread.
A bunch of brownshirts. Never hear the ACLU complain about this. Never hear Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins talk about this chill wind.
The Clinton campaign "never advocated physical confrontation and always insisted that the etiquette squad stay within the boundaries of the law," he claimed.But in the next breath Halley confessed, "Sadly, but inevitably, things sometimes got a little frisky, but my recruits knew how to handle themselves."
The buck's got to stop someplace. They knew they were getting a goon squad.
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