Posted on 08/28/2015 10:02:05 PM PDT by nickcarraway
This argument is sketched out by Judge William Martinez in an order of his own. It's on view below in its entirety, but here's a key excerpt.
The Second Judicial District called Steven Steadman, who is the Colorado judicial branch’s security administrator. Steadman was closely involved in the discussions leading up to the Plaza Order. Steadman testified that, during those discussions, he was unaware of Brandt and Iannicelli or the distribution of jury nullification literature, and that the Plaza Order actually arose from very different concerns.
According to Steadman, discussions began with Chief Judge Martinez in early July 2015 because the Dexter Lewis trial was scheduled to overlap with another death penalty trial in Arapahoe County, i.e., the trial of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes. Steadman and Chief Judge Martinez specifically worried about potentially violent protests that might break out if Lewis (who is black) eventually received the death penalty but Holmes (who is white) did not.
To Lane, this argument is highly problematic. "In order to get ready for possible civil unrest, they sought to suspend the First Amendment," he says. "But what does eliminating free speech have to do with civil unrest? The answer, given by a federal judge, is nothing."
That's not quite how Judge William Martinez put it. In the main, he focuses on whether the order banning protests on the plaza was "narrowly tailored" to achieve its stated goal of preventing civil unrest if Dexter Lewis gets the death penalty — and he found that it was not. Another excerpt:
These are potentially “significant” government interests. Legitimate time-place-manner restrictions in a public forum can be motivated by “objectives [such as] public safety, accommodating competing uses of the easement, controlling the level and times of noise, and similar interests".... But the Court finds on this record that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in proving that the Plaza Order is not narrowly tailored to these stated objectives. The case doesn't die there, since the plaintiffs plan to appeal the decision, and the office of Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman is expected to offer support.
Attorney David Lane. Attorney David Lane. File photo Lane doesn't think they'll have much success: "They'll have to file papers about why they think the judge is wrong, and the judge would have to say, 'Yes, I was wrong,'" he maintains. "The odds of that happening are pretty remote. So they'll immediately take it to the 10th Circuit and request a stay. But my guess is that the 10th Circuit will also deny the stay."
In the meantime, Lane is calling for the charges against Brandt and Iannicelli to be dropped — and he offers some harsh words about their arrest and the protest-banning order.
"The fact that government officials are fighting as hard as they can to suppress speech should be a wake-up call for Colorado citizens," he allows. "Why are your government officials trying to suppress speech? Why do we have to go to court repeatedly to vindicate the Constitution when these officials are sworn to uphold the Constitution? [Denver District Attorney] Mitch Morrissey should be ashamed of himself, and Cynthia Coffman should be ashamed of herself, too."
Update, August 26: A short time ago, David Lane reached out to the media with news that Denver police officers stopped jury nullification advocates from distributing pamphlets outside the Lindsey Flanigan courthouse despite the order allowing such activity. Here's what Lane wrote:
Outside the courthouse today. Our clients wasted no time in passing out jury nullification literature. The police wasted no time in swooping in after these photos were taken and confiscated the tent, chairs, coolers and other items. Back to federal court…unless Denver responds by noon today. The below email was sent to the attorney general and the city attorney:
Attached are two pictures taken this morning of peaceful pamphleteers passing out jury nullification literature. Moments after these pictures were taken, the Denver police swooped in, led by Commander Lopez and confiscated all of their property including the tent, the table, the chairs, their cooler and anything that was not nailed down. No arrests were made. The pampleteers were outside of the “no speech zone” as earmarked by Judge Michael Martinez which is not subject to his court order.
This is clearly retaliation for protected speech. If I don’t hear back from you by noon, we will re-file in federal court seeking a court order prohibiting the rank retaliation. The pictures clearly show that ingress/egress is not being blocked and there is no reason for this heavy handed police action.
I await your response.
Eric "****" Cops" Brandt's Latest Bust, Documents Judge Didn't Want You to See Denver Police Acted Like "Jack-Booted Thugs," Claims Top Cop Contempt Motion Reader: All Murderers Should Get the Death Penalty No Matter Their Skin Color He also included two photos of the set-up on the plaza prior to the police action. Here's the first....
Original post, 9:01 a.m. August 20: Last week, we told you that Eric "Fuck Cops" Brandt had been unable to meet a judge's deadline for removing documents about a police officer's threat from his Facebook page because he'd been jailed in Denver on a charge related to passing out jury nullification brochures in front of the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse, where the Dexter Lewis death-penalty trial was taking place.
Since then, the case has taken some bizarre and, in the view of Brandt attorney and free-speech advocate David Lane, troubling turns.
Earlier this week, Lane filed documents (see them below) seeking to, in his words, "enjoin the city and the police from arresting people for handing out literature to passersby outside of the Denver courthouse informing them of the concept of jury nullification."
After a hearing on this issue was set for 2 p.m. Friday, August 21, Chief Judge of the Second Judicial District, Michael Martinez issued an order that banned any protest activities in the courthouse's plaza, whether they have to do with jury nullification or not.
This move incenses Lane, who has now affixed Judge Martinez's name to his previous complaint.
"He's stepped in it in a really big way," Lane says. He feels that "Judge Martinez's solution to speech he doesn't like is to eliminate all free speech."
In July, as we've reported, Brandt and Mark Iannicelli, who also faces charges from the Denver District Attorney's Office, set up camp outside the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse and were passing out fliers that featured phrases such as "Your Jury Rights: True or False? What rights do you have as a juror that THE JUDGE WON'T TELL YOU" and "All You Need to Know About Jury Nullification (but were prevented from hearing)."
I believe she just didn’t want to diss her peeps; there is no reason for her to expect any federal or state help with these problems as both are out of money. Newark NJ laid off over 160 cops at the height of a murder spree because there was simply no money left anywhere to save their (practically no-show) jobs. All these black welfare reservations can expect is weak attempts to draw non-black spenders to prop them up (and it usually doesn’t work). Moving the NJ Devils to Newark NJ, as well as putting the battleship New Jersey museum and state aquarium in Camden NJ, has done nothing to save them.
She is simply a mini-Obama, a useless token manipulated by larger forces behind the scenes to give an illusion of black power while they collectively fall further behind just about everyone else on the planet.
Much better. Five reasons for this thug to have oxygen cut off.
“Richard Dawson owned his role.”
Good observation!
Dawson was probably 50% of the movie (IMHO), maybe using some of the pent up frustration from Hogans Heroes?
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