[Announce] Fw: Jan 26 News Release from Tucson Fed Court: Attention All CD Organizers - "misdemeanor conspiracy" setting new precedent!!!!!

[Robert Waldrop]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank Cordaro" <frank.cordaro at gmail.com>
> (Attention all who organize nonviolent civil 
> disobedience. The Fed
> Prosecutor in Tucson in this case is charging 
> our friends with a new
> charge "misdemeanor conspiracy". If convicted of 
> this charge, than
> everyone who is part of an organized 
> demonstration of nonviolent civil
> disobedience can be charged with misdemeanor 
> conspiracy and risk
> additional penalties, added on to any other 
> charges that result in
> their organized protest.  FC
>
> See below:  " Among the motions recently 
> submitted by the defense is
> one to quash the misdemeanor conspiracy charge 
> as an
> "over-criminalization" of the nonviolent protest 
> that resulted in the
> arrest of Lamb, Fr. Jerry Zawada and Mary Burton 
> Riseley last November
> 18 at Ft. Huachuca.  A memo in support of the 
> motion declares that,
> "Research has discovered not one reported 
> federal criminal case of a
> conviction for conspiracy misdemeanor trespass." 
> The government, in
> conversation with defense attorneys, has 
> repeatedly stated its desire
> to set a precedent with conspiracy convictions 
> as a means to stop
> torture opponents from making Ft. Huachuca a 
> focus for continued
> nonviolent protest.")
>
>  ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Mary Lou Pedersen <mpeder3926 at comcast.net>
> Date: Jan 26, 2008
>
>
> NEWS RELEASE
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> January 26, 2008
> Contact in Tucson:
> Felice or Jack Cohen-Joppa:    520-323-8697
> Nulcear Resister" <nukeresister at igc.org>
> http://www.serve.com/nukeresister/
>
>
>
> JUDGE REJECTS PLEA AGREEMENT IN TORTURE PROTEST 
> CASE
>
>
> At Friday morning's (January 25) hearing in 
> federal court in Tucson,
> Magistrate Jacqueline Marshall rejected a 
> proposed plea agreement
> between Army prosecutor Capt. Evan Seamone and 
> Torture on Trial
> defendant Frances Elizabeth (Betsy) Lamb.  The 
> agreement, sought by
> Lamb so she might leave prison to be with her 
> family at a time of
> need, would have had Lamb change her plea to 
> guilty of trespass and
> failure to obey, while continuing to trial with 
> her two codefendants
> on the conspiracy charge.
>
>
> In rapid succession, Marshall outlined four 
> objections to the proposed
> agreement. She sharply criticized the prosecutor 
> for incorporating an
> intermittent jail sentence that is simply "not 
> doable" by the Bureau
> of Prisons; for the length of the proposed 
> sentence that approximated
> the maximum possible were Lamb to be convicted 
> at trial, and for
> refusing to acknowledge and give credit for 
> Lamb's time served in
> prison since December 4.  "That's illegal," 
> Marshall stated, cutting
> off Seamone as he sought to clarify the 
> government's position by
> quoting back to him the particular problematic 
> statement in the
> proposed plea agreement.  "What were you 
> thinking?" she exclaimed.
>
>
> Marshall also expressed serious concern that 
> because the conspiracy
> charge would remain to be prosecuted, Lamb's 
> guilty plea to trespass
> and failure to obey presented such serious 
> potential conflicts that a
> standard waiver signed by each defendant might 
> not be enough to ensure
> a fair trial for each.
>
>
> "I'm going to pretend this plea doesn't exist," 
> she concluded with
> evident impatience.
>
>
> Representing the defendant, attorney Meredith 
> Little asked Marshall
> whether the court would consider a revised plea 
> agreement later in the
> day.
>
>
> The magistrate agreed, but in the end, no 
> revised agreement could be
> reached.  The prosecutor would not agree to a 
> home confinement option,
> instead seeking a full six months incarceration 
> on the two guilty
> pleas, in return for dropping the conspiracy 
> charge.  Lamb was
> returned to prison until trial.
>
>
> The schedule for the trial has changed slightly. 
> Motions will be
> heard in court beginning at 1:30 p.m. Monday, 
> February 4, and trial is
> now set to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, February 5.
>
>
> Among the motions recently submitted by the 
> defense is one to quash
> the misdemeanor conspiracy charge as an 
> "over-criminalization" of the
> nonviolent protest that resulted in the arrest 
> of Lamb, Fr. Jerry
> Zawada and Mary Burton Riseley last November 18 
> at Ft. Huachuca.  A
> memo in support of the motion declares that, 
> "Research has discovered
> not one reported federal criminal case of a 
> conviction for conspiracy
> misdemeanor trespass."  The government, in 
> conversation with defense
> attorneys, has repeatedly stated its desire to 
> set a precedent with
> conspiracy convictions as a means to stop 
> torture opponents from
> making Ft. Huachuca a focus for continued 
> nonviolent protest.
>
>
> For prison addresses for Lamb and the other 
> three Ft. Huachuca
> prisoners of conscience, go to 
> http://tortureontrial.org/support.html
> Background information can be found at 
> http://tortureontrial.org
>