U.S. Indicts Ithaca War Protesters

[chlamor]

Local News - Saturday, February 19, 2005

U.S. indicts Ithaca war protesters


ROGER DUPUIS II
Journal Staff


ITHACA -- Four peace demonstrators who poured their blood on government property during a 2003 antiwar rally at a military recruiting office in Lansing have been indicted in federal court.

Peter De Mott and Clare Grady received subpoenas early Friday. Teresa B. Grady and Daniel Burns were in contact with federal officials and were waiting for their subpoenas to be delivered during the afternoon. The indictments, for "conspiracy to impede an officer of the United States," come nearly a year after a local case ended in a mistrial in Tompkins County Court.
De Mott said he understands that he and the others could face up to six years in prison and "hefty fines" if convicted.

"We're facing more serious jail time than some of the soldiers who committed atrocities against prisoners in Iraq," Burns said.
"We believe that we are upholding international law in that the U.S. has acted criminally in invading Iraq, a sovereign nation, without the backing of the United Nations," Teresa B. Grady said.

She said the United States also was guilty of crimes against humanity, environmental degradation and causing the deaths of U.S. service personnel.

Following last April's mistrial, Dentes dismissed all charges pending against the four in Tompkins County Court. Dentes, who said then that he believed the jury "focused on political ideology instead of the facts," asked the U.S. Attorney's office to get involved in the case.
/www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20050219/localnews/2006879.html

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Oh, ferchristsake...

Their local trial ended in a mistrial. Justice had run its course, so why go after them in a federal court?

To harass these poor people, that's why...:grr:

[chlamor]

2. Making an example of these activists

Judge Dentes is in pursuit. These four are from the Catholic Worker activist core and consistently out front in the war protests. Demott is a passionate but soft spoken ex Vietnam vet who has been in and out of jail for numerous anti-war protest "violations". He is a strong voice in the local peace movement and Dentes wants to set an example. The case was actually extremely biased against the defendants and the jury still essentially found for them though they couldn't in a technical sense. In the pre-trial hearings there was a ton of evidence that was not allowed in court, some of it coming from some legal folks of renowned on a national level. If you are interested in hearing excerpts from the case you can go to www.unwelcomeguests.org and search in the archives for the show in which they played parts of the trial and had interviews. It is all about squelching dissent.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Flashback to the Berrigan Brothers and the Vietnam War era.

Flashback to the Berrigan Brothers and the Vietnam War era. Oh, the irony! The
capitalist press extols the virtues of the war criminal John Negroponte while
our glorious Government goes after four war resisters for daring to pour their
blood on the files of a canon fodder recruiting office.

[The Stranger]

4. Where is the thread attacking the protestors at the petroleum exchange

yesterday as "criminal behavior"? Interesting how this administration seeks to criminalize protest.