Stop the Witchhunt—No. 8

No Fence, NO CASE — Drop the Charges!
Garbage Is Not "Property"! Fighting Racism Is Not a Crime!

 
 
On July 28 the people of Ann Arbor will have an opportunity to put an end to the disgraceful political witchhunt launched by their city government one year ago against antiracists who protested the May 9, 1998 Ku Klux Klan rally.

The first day of the (evidence-less!!) evidentiary hearing for ten of the antiracist defendants has been continued over to Wednesday, July 28 at 9AM, again in Judge Ann Mattson’s courtroom.

 
No Damage, No Evidence – NO CASE

At the evidentiary hearing on July 16 the defense went on the offensive, calling the two key prosecution witnesses first: former AAPD deputy chief Jack Ceo, and the foreman of the fence company which bilked the city for the temporary fence to protect the KKK’s recruitment rally.

Former AAPD deputy chief Jack "I don’t recall" Ceo testified to having seen from a window on the 4th floor of city hall that the fence was "no longer as taut as it had been". Ceo was very clear (!!) on this point, which was interesting, since it directly contradicted the fence company foreman who testified that he did not notice any damage to the erect fence when he arrived at city hall to take down the fence after the rally.

The foreman also stated that his company’s usual procedure with rental fence of this type is to discard it – "damaged" or not. This puts the prosecution in the awkward position of charging people with "maliciously destroying" "property" (garbage!!) that normally would have been scrapped after the rally regardless of its condition.

In the wake of both the acquittal of Ryan Lang (see below) and the first day of the evidentiary hearing, the Ann Arbor city government’s witchhunt against antiracists is beginning to fall apart. The continuation of this hearing is an opportunity to deliver what would likely be a decisive blow to the more than a year old witchhunt. Getting the ten misdemeanor charges dismissed on the heels of the powerful victory against the felony "riot" charge in Ryan’s case could well finish off these prosecutions altogether.

All antiracists and all who care about civil liberties should attend.

 
No Record – NO CASE

The ten defendants are some of the hundreds of antiracists who protested the Ku Klux Klan rally in Ann Arbor on May 9, 1998. They are accused of having damaged the chain link rental fence erected by the city government as part of its $137,000 project to protect and stage the KKK’s rally. The charge is a misdemeanor called "Malicious Destruction of Property Under $100".

Among the defendants are prominent antiracists and leaders of the movement to defend affirmative action and the Defend Affirmative Action Party at the University of Michigan.

The police and prosecutor’s office are claiming that the antiracist defendants damaged the fence, but the police department never made any assessment of the condition of the fence. The fence company made a casual and entirely cursory assessment of the fence – after it had been taken down and rolled up. Knowing they had a standard blank-check insurance policy from the city for any assessment of material loss, they had a financial incentive to bend the stick in the direction of assessing damage. No record was ever made of the alleged damage by either the police or the fence company.

The police then allowed the basis of these charges to be scrapped and melted down, leaving only the bill from the fence company as "evidence" of damage.

Police photographs of the fence after the rally, still images secured from police video, eyewitness affidavits of neutral observers, including several Peace Team members, an expert witness affidavit from the owner/operator of a fence company who viewed the fence in question on multiple police videos all indicate that there was no damage done to the rental fence. In fact, the Peace Team re-erected the fence subsequent to it being pulled from the poles by the counter-demonstrators.

Please attend this evidentiary hearing and help make sure justice is done.

 

* * *

There will be a motion hearing in Judge Donald Shelton’s courtroom for the witchhunt felony charges on Thursday, July 29, at 9AM (the day following the evidentiary hearing on the misdemeanors). The motions include challenges to the constitutionality of the "Riot" and "Inciting to Riot" statutes, and a challenge to the under-representation of black and other minority people on juries in Washtenaw County.

One of the motions calls for dropping the "Inciting to Riot" charge against Robin Alvarez. Robin is a 46-year-old long-time Ann Arbor resident, a jewelry artist, and a divorced mother of two. Robin is accused of speech alone; her case is based on error.

Judge Elizabeth Hines who bound Robin over for trial in a written decision was under the misimpression that the speech for which she is accused of "Inciting to Riot" occurred at the northeast corner of city hall where events occurred that are now being used as the pretext for "Riot" charges; that is an error. In fact, the statements involved in this case were made by Robin at the southwest corner of the building where absolutely nothing occurred that even the county prosecutor has accused of being a riot. In other words where Robin made her statement, there was no riot to be incited. This elementary mistake is an example of a judge in a hurry to do the bidding of the prosecutor and the police. It is typical of the rush to judgement of a political witchhunt.

Victory!

On Friday, June 4, just after 7PM, an all-white six person jury found 16-year-old antiracist Ryan Lang not guilty of "Riot" and all other charges. The jury deliberated for less than an hour after the three-day trial. The jury refused to even convict Ryan of the frivolous lesser included misdemeanor "Disturbing the Peace". The verdict drew a burst of applause from the crowded courtroom gallery as it was read.

One juror, immediately following the not guilty verdict said: "I can put it in a nutshell for you. They had no evidence – no evidence at all."

In sharp contrast to the prosecution case (which made up for having what jurors called "no evidence at all" with an effort as relentless as it was ineffective to convict Ryan on the basis of guilt-by-association) 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, 1998.

Picket and Attend the Evidentiary Hearing
and Hearing on Motions to Dismiss the Felonies

Wednesday, July 28, 8:30AM & 
Thursday, July 29, 8:30AM Downtown Courthouse 
(Huron & Main) 

1999.07.20 

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Ann Arbor Antiracist Defense Campaign
National Women’s Rights Organizing Coalition

PO Box 1092 Penobscot Station, Detroit, MI. 48231  (313) 730-3577

www.umich.edu/~nwroc * nwroc@umich.edu