Victory! Ryan Lang found innocent of all charges! - Stop the Witchhunt Flyer #6

On Friday, June 4, just after 7PM, an all-white six person jury found 16-year-old antiracist Ryan Lang innocent of "Riot" and all other charges. The jury deliberated for less than an hour after the three-day trial. The verdict drew a burst of applause from the crowded courtroom gallery as it was read.

Ryan is a standard-bearer for bravery and loyalty in the face of this witchhunt. He was charged for his loyalty to his friends and to the antiracist movement – for refusing to be a police-snitch. This loyalty was repaid to Ryan in the broad and diverse support he received in his trial; his supporters were young and old and of all races.

It is an outrage that the Washtenaw Co prosecutors office, the Ann Arbor Police Department and the Ann Arbor city government spent almost a year and tens of thousands of dollars trying to frame now 16-year-old Ryan Lang with a 10-year felony. The prosecutions’ case was so weak that when, after less than an hour of deliberation, the jury emerged from the jury chamber their first response was: "The prosecution had no evidence." These charges never should have been brought; this case never should have gone forward.

The prosecution’s case was so pathetically weak that they put the charge "Disturbing the Peace" (!!) in as a lesser included charge. The jury – to the shame and humiliation of prosecutor Jennifer H. Lazarus, detective Tom Kolpacki and their respective organizations – refused to convict Ryan even of this thoroughly petty misdemeanor charge.

TO THE YOUTH OF ANN ARBOR:

If you are arrested or stopped by the police – use your rights – REMAIN SILENT. Give the police ONLY your basic ID information. Ryan, to his credit and good fortune, did not talk to the police, he is now free; this must serve as a lesson to other youth.

The political witchhunt character of the prosecution took the form of an effort as relentless as it was ineffective to convict Ryan on the basis of guilt-by-association. Prosecutor Jennifer H. Lazarus, made up for having what jurors called "no evidence" with resort to pointless, colorful stories about the events of May 9, 1998 all in a demagogic attempt to prejudice the jury. Time after time during the trial, the prosecutor raised events at which Ryan was not present and allegations with which Ryan had nothing to do.

It seems unbelievable, but in addition to this "weakness" of lacking any evidence whatsoever, the prosecution also did not present a single witness who claimed to have seen Ryan do anything illegal.

The prosecution "witnesses" (they witnessed other events and other people, but not Ryan Lang), all but two of whom were police, did their best to prejudice the jury with the horror … the TERROR … of The Great Ann Arbor Riot of 1998 – all 3 minutes and ten broken windows of it!

The two non-police prosecution "witnesses" were members of the "Peace Team": Reverend William Ingraham and Betty Kemnitz. These hypocrite proponents of "non-violence" do not consider it violence to aid police in their effort to lock up a 16-year-old on a 10-year felony.

The Reverend William Ingraham spun a ridiculous yarn about how he was trapped by antiracists and feared for his life (!!). Through his flaky foolishness he harmed the credibility of the prosecution case. Betty Kemnitz, despite serving as a prosecution witness was a positive help to the defense by making unequivocally clear that the wrath of the antiracists was not directed at the "Peace Team".

Readers should keep in mind that neither of these two "witnesses" ever set eyes on Ryan Lang – they were brought in by the police and prosecutor’s office only because the prosecution thought they would help paint the government’s false picture of the shutdown of the KKK rally as maliciousness and mayhem for its own sake.

Detective Tom Kolpacki, after lying to a then 15 year old trying to get him to incriminate himself – after trying to ruin a 15-year-old’s life with police lies – gave testimony at Ryan’s trial. At the trial that was to decide this young man’s fate, Detective Tom Kolpacki had the audacity to call his lies a "trick". Quite a police "trick" it would be to lock up a young man for years of his life with deceit and lies…

In sharp contrast to the prosecution case, the defense case was truthful and compelling. A long and diverse series of witnesses all testified to the central proposition of the defense: there was no riot on May 9. The defense case took the opportunity to defend not only Ryan, but the entire shutdown of the KKK rally. Witness after witness testified to the fact that the only time they observed anything like "public terror and alarm" (one of the legal elements of the "Riot" charge) was when the police fired teargas into the crowd. The witnesses communicated the breadth and passion of opposition to the KKK organizing in Ann Arbor.

On Friday, June 4, six witnesses took the stand for the defense starting with Ann Arbor mathematician and computer software designer, Rudy List and his 10-year old daughter Emma.

Rudy and Emma testified to having been scared only by the actions of the police on the day of the rally and to having seen clouds of teargas billowing down the street. They testified to the impact on their inter-racial family of the KKK coming to rally and recruit in their hometown. Rudy said that his children (who are mixed Asian and white) feared that they would not be allowed to live together as a family anymore.

Graduating Community High School senior Matt Brown testified to the intensity of discussion in his school about how to respond to the KKK rally. He testified as to why he decided to go to the city hall counter-demonstration rather than to the city-sponsored Wheeler Park diversion rally, by saying that black people had won the right to sit at the front of the bus when Rosa Parks made a confrontation at the front of the bus, not by holding a protest at the back of the bus.

Erika Dowdell, a black University of Michigan freshman, testified to the fact that there was no terror and no alarm among the public around the city hall until the police fired their teargas.

"Peace Team" member and U of M linguistics graduate student, Stephanie Lindeman testified that she was not in fear during the rally.

Jewish hospital worker Donna Stern, testified that she was up on the 2nd floor promenade of city hall and that she thought that when the protesters went up to the promenade it would give the police an excuse to shut down the KKK rally – which it did.

On Thursday, the defense had called swimming coach and life-long Ann Arbor resident Quincy Brown, a 22-year-old black man. Quincy testified to the pride of the protesters in being an integrated group of people standing so resolutely against the KKK.

The defense case showed the support in the Ann Arbor community for fighting racism seriously.

On Friday, July 16, at 1:30PM at the downtown courthouse in Judge Mattson’s courtroom, the misdemeanor defendants who are accused of having damaged a chain link rental fence will have an evidentiary hearing. This is another element of the witchhunt prosecutions for which there is no evidence whatsoever.

Given the fact that the only physical evidence in these cases was destroyed with the authorization of the police, the evidentiary hearing to determine whether and if so, when, how, where and by whom the fence was damaged should prove very difficult for the prosecution. All antiracists and all who care about civil liberties should attend.