Remember the Code Pinker who held up red hands in front of Condi's face? She was in court last week.

[proud2BlibKansan]

Here is the email she sent out to her supporters:

Update from Des!! After initially being charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer and one count of "disorderly conduct" for calling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a "War criminal!" and telling her "The blood of millions of Iraqis is on your hands…"

I was found guilty this past Friday by Judge Richard H. Ringell of only one disorderly conduct charge. (Note that the "government" dropped the assault charges because, according to prosecutor Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, the "victim",Condoleezza Rice would have had to appear in court to testify.)

After the judge presented his reasons for the guilty verdict, I was given the opportunity to make a pre-sentencing statement, which I am including below:


Your honor, the decision to invade Iraq was illegal, and catastrophic, wreaking havoc on our domestic security and world stability. As citizens of the United States of America, I believe we must stand up and speak out against these crimes.


I have phoned, emailed, and written my congressional leaders. I have visited my senators' and congressman's offices at home in Texas and here in Washington, D.C. I have signed and delivered petitions. I have marched, camped out and participated in vigils and nonviolent demonstrations. I have fasted and mourned the loss of life, both American and Iraqi.


Nevertheless your honor, I intended no harm nor did I intend to disrupt the hearing proceedings on October 24th. My intentions were to embody and to reiterate the strong dissent in our country – that Americans continue to speak out for what is morally right and to denounce our government when it does wrong. I believe that anything less is consent to war crimes.


After reading my statement, Judge Ringell made mention of the civil disobedience acts of Thoreau, Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King, as models of resistance. He went on to say that they all understood that they would eventually spend time in jail for their acts. He told me,"Some day you'll have to accept the consequences of your acts, but not in this forum ." He could have given me 180 days in jail and up to $1000 fine per the charge and the request of the prosecution, but instead he sentenced me to 5 days suspended sentence, 3 months of unsupervised probation, and $50 for a mandatory victim's fund.


Although I was mentally prepared for the jail time, I was elated to know that I would continue working with my sisters and brothers-in-peace in the streets or on the Hill this summer as we struggle to end the violence in Iraq. Thank you, Liz, Les & Jes, Gael, Polly, Ellen, Pete Perry, David Barrows and Jack Barringer, for being present at my sentencing and to cheer me on. Special appreciation to my court appointed attorney, Mark Loudon-Brown whose closing statement was so inspiring. Mark tried valiantly to get me acquitted of all charges and presented a clear argument in my favor that my action was political, was intense, but did not breach the peace by actually or potentially incite anyone to violence. Though the Judge did not accept his arguments I feel Lady Justice did prevail!

Thank you to all who called, texted and emailed their support!

Love & Peace,

Des

[druidity33]

1. I'll K&R this! nt

[roguevalley]

18. she is beautiful, her face shines with justice. I am in awe of her guts.

[electropop]

32. Score one for the good guys (and gals).

[Trajan]

2. Like the proverbial wisdom of Solomon ...

Without the licentiousness and killing and stuff ....

Three CHEERS for Judge Richard H. Ringell !

:applause:

:applause:

:applause:

[NightWatcher]

3. I would be proud to pay her fine, but alas my clients havent paid me and I is broke

[countingbluecars]

4. K&R

She's a brave woman!

[annabanana]

5. Her action gave us some of the BEST pictures of our resistance.

There is NO mistaking their intent.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Yes that is very true

Desiree rocks! :yourock:

[icymist]

6. How in the world could this judge compare her to Thoreau, Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King....

and then still warn her of accepting the consequences of her acts?!

[truedelphi]

9. I think he has to spin the event so that it will pass muster if this case is

investigated and should it receive judicial review by some conservatives. The statements help the judge cover several of the bases.

Sort of the way that Bush says that someone's husband or wife has died in Iraq for Democracy and spreading freedom.

[Trajan]

11. His statements are clear ...

Those names he mentioned ALSO expected to be sentenced for their willful acts of protest, and so the comparison is apt ... It has nothing to do with making conservatives happy, which this decision will NOT do ....

[truedelphi]

40. I wasn't suggesting that the judge was or should be doing

doing something that would make the conservatives happy.


I saw what the judge did as a sort of CYA thing. He issued a statement showing he had some depth of knowledge re: civil disobedience, and yet still issued a penalty to the protester.

Those of us on the left say "Why any penalty??"

Those on the far right are gonna have to issue a diatribe critical not only of this judge but of Ghandi, as Ghandi is cited in the judge's statement.


So just in case the neocons get their panties in a bunch, he has cited heroes and leaders of Civil Rights and civil disobedience in his statement- the neocons have to come out against those leaders as well as the judge should they try and censure this judge.

(Remember currently we are living inside a vast fascist state in which the Dept of Justice was reformulated to allow for the hiring and promotion of people "only" friendly to the Cheney/Bush notion of legalities. The FBI was reformulated to step back from taking the complaints of vote watchers like myself - even though they are the body that has the jurisdiction of taking the complaints of vote watchers. I would not want to be a "liberal" judge in this atmosphere. Never know who is willing to drive your car off the road some dark and stormy night.)

[jberryhill]

21. Because that is the dynamic of civil disobedience in the first place

The POINT of civil disobedience is not in the act of disobedience. The entire point of civil disobedience is to demonstrate injustice in accepting the penalty for the act.

Have you ever actually read what any of Thoreau, Gandhi, or King actually wrote on the subject?


Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. The proper place to-day, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less desponding spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles. It is there that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race, should find them; on that separate, but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are not with her, but against her — the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor.

[bean fidhleir]

31. Thoreau was right on one level, but wrong on another

It's like Orwells assessment of Gandhiji's passive resistance: it wouldn't have worked against the Nazis (or, though he didn't say so, the US).

Disobedience only works if there's a popular expectation that government is supposed to be, and will be, fair and responsive. In Germany, the expectation was of anything but fairness - people were accustomed to criminal brutality, Nacht Und Nebel, the camps, and all the rest. In Germany, as Orwell pointed out, a Gandhi would have simply been taken away in the middle of the night and never seen again. We're not that badly off yet, but we're getting there. I cite the prisoners of the US who have no rights and are scarcely even visible to anyone outside the system.

Against a Nazi or Soviet or similar regime, I think the goal has to be the repeated, successful refusal to obey. The success becoming a statement, perhaps also made explicit at trial, that "the laws themselves have been turned into weapons for the use of criminals and therefore no person -cop, judge, juror, bystander, politician- who cares about real law can support them in any way whatsoever."

[jberryhill]

34. Direct v. Indirect Disobedience

There are some distinctions to be made between situations in which the illegal conduct is directed at the law making that conduct illegal, and where the illegal conduct is unrelated to the issue at hand.

For example, organizing the mass individual manufacture of salt without a license to make salt, and thereby clogging up the enforcement mechanism having to deal with enforcement of the law actually violated, and also demonstrating the futility and injustice of the law is a prime situation where (a) the State has sought to impose a restraint on my liberty, and (b) I am going to exercise that liberty and demonstrate the injustice of the restraint. That is a direct situation where disobedience on a large scale is most effective, or even on a small scale - i.e. Rosa Parks. By sitting at the front of the bus, Rosa Parks was violating the rule sought to be changed. The point of direct civil disobedience is simply to act consistently with the liberty one claims to have.

Against a Nazi or Soviet or similar regime, I think the goal has to be the repeated, successful refusal to obey.

...and the remarkable thing about the collapse of Soviet power in eastern Europe was how rapidly things moved from the simple action of the Hungarians in not enforcing border crossing restrictions, which rendered the Berlin Wall ineffective in a matter of weeks.

The indirect situation is less effective - i.e. I am going to violate law A in order to demonstrate that policy B is unjust. Anyone with significant conviction on a given issue may choose to interrupt a House or Senate hearing, and they are going to be busted on some sort of disorderliness charge. It may well be anti-choicers one day, prayer-in-school wingnuts another day etc. In that situation, the "disobedience" is not a statement of opposition to congressional oversight of the executive branch - which is the point of the hearing, but to use the presence of media and political figures at the event as a stage upon which to make a statement.

The other effectiveness issue of the "unrelated violation of law" variety of protest is that it is typically outside of the central point of civil disobedience as a means of advancing individual liberty. Rather than to refuse to cooperate with the restraint of my personal liberty, what I'm trying to do is to get someone else to do or not to do something. Muhammad Ali, for example, resisted the draft since "No Viet Cong ever called me nigger." It wasn't his fight, it was someone else's. Other than as my participation in the US political system as a voter, taxpayer (which pays for a lot of different things), and other indirect ways, nobody is forcing me to participate in the Iraq War. What I want is for other people to stop making a war in which I am not a conscript or combatant. Hence, the type of "disobedience incident to protest" can be cathartic, consciousness-raising, or conscience-satisfying (e.g. I did not stand by and do nothing) but the point is not that there should not be laws against such things as disorderly conduct or trespassing. The intended dissonant contrast is more along the lines of "You are making war against a country which didn't attack us, and which was sold on lies, and you dare to call MY conduct 'disorderly'?" But it is still along the lines of "I dare you to punish me for that", which assumes the willingness that the punishment will be imposed as a measure of one's conviction.

[truedelphi]

37. I was responding to the notion that there might be a discrepency

Between the judge's act (letting the defendent off with a mere slap on the wrist, at least in terms of how neo cons might view it) and the fact that the judge cited illustrious leaders of Civil Rights such as Ghandi.

I was not in any way shape or form meaning to denigrate the leaders of Civil Rights and Free Speech, Free Action.

And by the way, I spent about three months WAY BACK in my junior year of high school studying Ghandi, who became one of the few individuals with political ranking that I can honestly refer to as a Hero. I am grateful for your citing Thoreau in full - I have no idea where in storage my books on him may rest.

[jberryhill]

44. Oh, I wasn't picking a fight....

I've seen commentary elsewhere along the general line of "How awful, they arrested non-violent protestors" (other than at lawful demonstrations), as if it was some sort of surprise.

The judge's commentary suggests IMHO that he "gets it" and was simply saying that he wasn't going to play the game for the prosecutor or for the protestor.

[truedelphi]

47. "How awful, they arrested non-violent protestors"

Among the best advice I ever got from my dad was along the lines of
"Think before you act. Evaluate how others will treat your actions. And don't do the crime if you can't afford the fine (or the time)"

He went on to say (I was a twenty something at the time) "I'll bail you out - but your money in your bank is what I'll be using."

I've watched friends oppose the police when the police were acting stupid, and they did their night in jail and paid their fines, for no purpose other than to "Show them cops!"

I've been lucky in never being arrested at protests, but at least if I had been arrested, it would have been to make a meaningful statement and not just to talk back to a cop who thinks I did or didn't use my turn signal.

[LakeSamish706]

7. Folks, this just cements the fact that we need to take back our country.....

And there is no way in hell that we can allow these monsters to just walk away with what they have done! Somehow we need to see that they are taken to task and pay dearly for their war crimes and other crimes against humanity (mostly our citizens and the Iraqi citizens). I don't know how this is going to come about but it has to.

[Pharaoh]

8. God Bless Judge Ringell!

K&R

And Thank you Des...........

[chill_wind]

10. Connie can't meet her eyes. I'd favor a Clockwork Orange treatment

in Guantanamo, using about 6 years worth of non-sanitized IW stock photo images.

[awoke_in_2003]

62. Condie can't meet her eyes

because condie can probably not even see her. People like Des are "below her class" in Condies mind.

[FtWayneBlue]

12. Thank you for posting this, and I want to thank Des too

for her brave, outspoken actions in bringing attention to the war crimes of the Bush regime.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Midge sent it out

She's still in DC off and on shaking Congress up.

We definitely have some heroes among us. :hi:

[bonito]

13. What did he mean

"Some day you'll have to accept the consequences of your acts, but not in this forum" I don't get it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. He meant he wasn't willing to punish her

She did break the law and there are consequences but this judge is refraining from imposing them in his courtroom. It was his way of approving of what she did.

[Supersedeas]

59. That's how I read it too -- thus the reference to Ghandi, King, et al.

[bigmonkey]

69. Can I please make a spelling request?

It's Gandhi.

The h on the d, not the g.

[TomHansley]

17. sweet!

Power to the people! :-)

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[femrap]

19. K and R

I am in total awe of Code Pink....I love their conviction, courage, and creativity.

Just awesome.

[riverdeep]

20. What if we had a nation full of people like Des?

Or even just 10%? 30 million people doing everything within their means to legally take down this administration? She's the opposite of Pelosi.

[99th_Monkey]

23. Awesome!! I had a friend who refused the draft in the 60s, who was found guilty and sent to prison.

but the judge who sentenced him, several months later, could not live with himself and so ruled retroactive dismissal of
all charges, and my friend walked out of prison a free man.

These are the stories that keep us going ... "the moral arc of the Universe bends at the elbow of justice" ~MLK Jr.

[truedelphi]

48. That is a most wonderful story, Impeachment Monkey. n/t

[file83]

24. I said it before when I first saw this picture, and I'll say it again....

In all honesty, this photo of Desi is the best picture of the anti-war movement for the last 7 years. It's one of those photos that will show up in history books and photographic essays covering this time in American history.

What a magnificent expression of courage and conviction standing up in the face fascism. She spoke for us all.

I'm glad she got a judge that saw her action for what it was: peaceful civil disobedience.

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. It certainly is a wonderful picture!

[ClayZ]

25. What a respectable woman! K and R

:patriot:

[orleans]

26. k&r n/t

[NanceGreggs]

27. FANTASTIC!!!

K & R!!!

[reprehensor]

29. Sweet.

She deserves to see bloody hands every goddam day.

[Breeze54]

30. That's great news!! Justice prevailed with an insightful judge!

:applause: :applause:

:kick: & Recommended

[pberq]

33. Kick & Nominated

[QueenOfCalifornia]

35. Gave me goosebumps

K&R!

[Irishonly]

36. Great News n/t

[defendandprotect]

38. One judge acting according to conscience . . . thankfully!!!

[rainy]

39. I love code pink!!! nt

[aikoaiko]

41. Everytime I see that pic, I wonder how close she came to being shot.

I know still pics can be deceptive, but it looks like she is about to hit Condi.

[Turner Ashby]

42. I have to say,

the State was required to prosecute, but thankfully the Judge was a tremendous person, and they are a rarity. Kudos to the Bench on this one.

[swimmernsecretsea]

43. Thank you, Des! nt.

[ritaclarke]

45. Good News for a change

It's thrilling to be included as a recipient to anything Des sends out - what a woman!

[debbierlus]

46. I needed this today. Remind me again of the fight we must wage

An example of true courage, I will try to remember it.

[bdamomma]

51. maybe all of us should just show up in front of WH with painted hands

and not say one word. We need to do something.

[JDPriestly]

49. Meet Judge Richard Ringell -- Sounds like a great judge.

Richard Ringell was installed as a Magistrate Judge of the Superior Court of the District
of Columbia on September 16, 1999.

Judge Ringell was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and received his Bachelor of Arts
from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He obtained his Juris Doctor from American
University’s Washington College of Law in 1969. Following law school, he served as a lawyer
for Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) in Cleveland, Ohio.

From 1970 until his appointment to the Superior Court, Judge Ringell practiced law as a
sole practitioner. Initially, he served as a Criminal Justice Act attorney, representing indigent
criminal defendants. Over the next several years, his practice evolved from court-appointed
criminal cases to the private representation of those charged with crimes. His clientele grew
considerably varied from 1982 until his retirement from the practice, with cases ranging from
toxic tort litigation to drug offenses.


Judge Ringell has resided in the District of Columbia for over 29 years and is very active
in the community. He served on the Mayor’s Citizen Advisory Panel from 1993 to 1995 and was
a founding member of the World Through Peace Law Center. In addition to coaching youth
sports, Judge Ringell has been a member of the “Big Brother” program for many years. His
‘little brother’ is currently serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand. Judge Ringell is
married to Margo Vickers Ringell and is the proud father of two children.

http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/docs/DCSC_Bio_Ringell.pdf

***
Ringell handles everything from traffic violations to city misdemeanors such as disorderly conduct,
panhandling, possessing an open container of alcohol and urinating in public.
. . .
Rather than simply imposing jail time or fines, community court aims to improve the quality of life for the offender and for the city, and to link defendants to social services.

. . .
"You can't have a better judge sitting up there than him," said Dwayne Jenkins, Ringell's courtroom
clerk. Jenkins said Ringell is patient and fair, but if offenders appear a second time without doing what
they were told, "they get hell."
. . .
http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/about/media/news/2005/2005-04-10CaringJustice.pdf

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Mayor Marion Barry was acquitted Wednesday of drunken driving and other offenses stemming from his arrest last year near the White House.

. . .

Secret Service agents stopped Barry's car early Sept. 10, 2006, and said he stopped at a green light and drove through a red one. The agents testified that Barry smelled of alcohol, was stumbling and had red eyes and slurred speech.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Richard Ringell ruled that he could not find beyond a reasonable doubt that Barry was intoxicated. He noted that a breath test later in the evening registered a blood-alcohol content of .02%, well below the legal limit of .08%.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-13-barry-acquited_N.htm

[bdamomma]

50. you are great American and patriot Des,

I wish I had more chutzpah to do what you did.

[delt664]

52. Woohooo!

Score one (although a small one) for the good guys!

[dogday]

53. A small light burns in a dark world

This woman's courageous actions should make us all proud, and should be an example to all that we must get up and get out to make the difference... We must act upon our conscience, and resist all that we know is truly wrong....

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[racaulk]

54. Activist judge!!11! He needs to be removed from the bench!!!1!11

Just kidding... :)

That's absolutely wonderful news for Des! She is an absolute hero in my book, and I wish I had just one ounce of her bravery and resolve. Keep fighting the good fight, Des!

K&R

:kick:

[vanboggie]

55. Awesome!

I so admire Des for making Condasleazy wince. This is great news. Bravo to her, to the judge and to her attorney.
Great news!

[LanternWaste]

56. She has a courage and a strength of her convictions

She has a courage and a strength of her convictions that most people (including myself) can only dream of...

Good for her!!!!

[ooglymoogly]

57. wonderful beginning to a story I have been following

KR for this wonderful woman....The face of evil and the face of judgment. What she is saying imo, is I have not yet begun to fight. Condi-val looks like crapola exposed.

[lovuian]

58. there is Hope

Bravo

:applause:

[MasonJar]

60. Thank you, Des, for being there when most of us were NOT. I respect

immensely your courage and your assiduity in your (and our) fight to right the wrong of GWB.

[shaniqua6392]

61. She fills me with pride!

What a hero. Thanks for the update.

[JNelson6563]

63. She's featured in this awesome vidoe

along with many other brave, noble souls.

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

:toast: :patriot:

Julie

[proud2BlibKansan]

72. What a great video!

Thanks!

[nashville_brook]

64. this news fills me with hope. i'm totally floored that there's still rational humans on the bench!

thank you Des -- and thank you, Judge Ringell.

there might actually be hope for this country. :patriot:

[gorfle]

65. That girl has bigger balls than me!

:)

[malaise]

66. Bravo Des

:yourock:

I like the judge too. :D

[Politicub]

67. Here's to the hellraisers! K&R!

And what a great closing argument. I would love to read the full closing remarks from the judge!

[Imagevision]

68. Go Des! - you won...!

[The Doctor.]

70. Good deal.

[Duncan]

71. Thanks Des

You are inspiring.