Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 8:30AM
Criminal Justice Center - Room 1003
1301 Filbert Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
On July 23rd 2007, four Philadelphia-area anti-racist activists were
arrested on multiple trumped up charges stemming from a
counter-demonstration against a Ku Klux Klan rally that was scheduled
to take place in Center City that morning.
Two men wearing neo-Nazi t-shirts were verbally confronted by
anti-racists and forced to leave. The men then boarded a waiting SUV,
at which time another verbal confrontation ensued, at the end of which
one of the SUV's windows was damaged. Police personnel waited until
this point to break their cover and identify themselves - the driver
of the SUV was a Philadelphia Police Detective while the passenger and
owner of the vehicle was an FBI special agent.
The initial charges against each activist consisted of 4 felony and 6
misdemeanor counts, but were quickly reduced to 8 misdemeanor charges
when the arresting offices realized the original trumped up charges
were just too exaggerated to ever stick.
On December 13th, the Love Park 4 will have their day in court.
We are happy to report that the defendants are confident in their
lawyer's ability to help them beat these trumped up charges, and are
currently proceeding towards trial in December with cautious optimism.
We are encouraging friends, family, and fellow activists to pack the
courtroom on December 13th to show their support and solidarity for
the defendants.
It is important that as many people as possible attend this court
date. We must show the State the large amount of support that exists
for these anti-racists arrested in a situation that - for all
practical purposes - was straight up entrapment. We must send a clear
message that State-sponsored harassment of political activists will
not go unchallenged.
We have also received word that local white supremacists are planning
to attend this court date to intimidate and harass both the defendants
and their supporters. With this new information, it is even more
imperative that people turn out in large numbers on December 13th. We
must not allow this attempt at intimidation to go unchecked. Let's
pack the court room with signs of solidarity for our comrades – fill
those seats early and keep the neo-Nazis out!
We are asking that everyone who comes to court please dress in an
appropriate manner, and behave professionally. Coming to court will
help show the judge and district attorney just how much support the
Love Park 4 has - but anything negative will only hurt their case.
Please keep that in mind when you are planning to attend.
In Solidarity with ALL Political Prisoners,
The Love Park 4 Defense Committee
www.myspace.com/supportlovepark4
Showing posts with label court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label court. Show all posts
Friday, November 30, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Update from the Love Park 4
***PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY***
Quick Update from the Love Park 4
It's been awhile since we updated everyone on our case. First of all, we want to really thank all of our friends and comrades for their outpouring of support since our arrests in July. To date, we have raised about $2400 for our legal defense and have received hundreds of supportive messages from around the world.
Our first date court is fast approaching - just 3 weeks away on October 3rd. It's just a status hearing - where our lawyers will enter their appearances, we will enter our not guilty pleas, and the discovery process will begin. Not much usually comes out of these initial appearances, and in our case our lawyers expect nothing different. They have explained that in all probability, discovery will go on for some time as they expect the prosecution to not be completely forthcoming with all the discovery our legal team needs (surprise, surprise) so a series of discovery motions will have to be filed to secure all of those documents and other evidence necessary for our defense.
To that end, we have hired our legal counsel and will have a legal team consisting of 3 lawyers - one for Tom Keenan and Jared Schultz, another for Jason Robbins and a third for the member of Progressive Labor Party who was also arrested with us. The members of Anti-Racist Action will be represented by Paul Hetznecker and Larry Krasner, respectively. Both lawyers are well-known to the Philadelphia activist community, having spent time defending other activists arrested in the
city, and are sympathetic to our anti-fascist politics. Both Hetznecker and Krasner were a big part of the post-RNC legal team in 2000, as well as counsel to several people arrested during the Bio-Devastation protests in Philadelphia in 2005, among many other politically charged cases over both of their long careers. Our lawyers are currently preparing for our October court date and we will be
meeting with them again during the next few weeks to ready ourselves for court and continue to formulate our defense strategy.
We are confident in our lawyers ability to help us beat these trumped up charges, and are proceeding with cautious optimism. While our supporters have done an excellent job helping us fund raise, we are still in need of help in this area. We are currently $600 short in meeting our fundraising goal of $3000, the amount our lawyers have asked to defend us. At this point, any amount of money you can donate to help us reach that goal will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate money online via PayPal. Send your donation to cyndipitt@gmail.com. If you wish to send funds through the mail, send
a check or well-concealed cash to:
Heartsville Community Space
PO Box 5917
Philadelphia, PA 19137.
Make sure to note that it is for The Love Park 4 and make out all checks or money orders to Jared Schultz.
Write to philly_ara@yahoo.com to receive updates on our case and find out how else you can lend a hand. You can also visit the Support the Love Park 4 Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/supportlovepark4 - or the Love Park 4 blog - http://lovepark4.blogspot.com/ - for more information and background on the case.
GIVE THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: SOLIDARITY!
Quick Update from the Love Park 4
It's been awhile since we updated everyone on our case. First of all, we want to really thank all of our friends and comrades for their outpouring of support since our arrests in July. To date, we have raised about $2400 for our legal defense and have received hundreds of supportive messages from around the world.
Our first date court is fast approaching - just 3 weeks away on October 3rd. It's just a status hearing - where our lawyers will enter their appearances, we will enter our not guilty pleas, and the discovery process will begin. Not much usually comes out of these initial appearances, and in our case our lawyers expect nothing different. They have explained that in all probability, discovery will go on for some time as they expect the prosecution to not be completely forthcoming with all the discovery our legal team needs (surprise, surprise) so a series of discovery motions will have to be filed to secure all of those documents and other evidence necessary for our defense.
To that end, we have hired our legal counsel and will have a legal team consisting of 3 lawyers - one for Tom Keenan and Jared Schultz, another for Jason Robbins and a third for the member of Progressive Labor Party who was also arrested with us. The members of Anti-Racist Action will be represented by Paul Hetznecker and Larry Krasner, respectively. Both lawyers are well-known to the Philadelphia activist community, having spent time defending other activists arrested in the
city, and are sympathetic to our anti-fascist politics. Both Hetznecker and Krasner were a big part of the post-RNC legal team in 2000, as well as counsel to several people arrested during the Bio-Devastation protests in Philadelphia in 2005, among many other politically charged cases over both of their long careers. Our lawyers are currently preparing for our October court date and we will be
meeting with them again during the next few weeks to ready ourselves for court and continue to formulate our defense strategy.
We are confident in our lawyers ability to help us beat these trumped up charges, and are proceeding with cautious optimism. While our supporters have done an excellent job helping us fund raise, we are still in need of help in this area. We are currently $600 short in meeting our fundraising goal of $3000, the amount our lawyers have asked to defend us. At this point, any amount of money you can donate to help us reach that goal will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate money online via PayPal. Send your donation to cyndipitt@gmail.com. If you wish to send funds through the mail, send
a check or well-concealed cash to:
Heartsville Community Space
PO Box 5917
Philadelphia, PA 19137.
Make sure to note that it is for The Love Park 4 and make out all checks or money orders to Jared Schultz.
Write to philly_ara@yahoo.com to receive updates on our case and find out how else you can lend a hand. You can also visit the Support the Love Park 4 Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/supportlovepark4 - or the Love Park 4 blog - http://lovepark4.blogspot.com/ - for more information and background on the case.
GIVE THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: SOLIDARITY!
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