The last of the Frederick Four cases went to a bench trial last Thursday and the judge went ahead and dismissed the two remaining charges. So that makes three of the four who were either acquitted or had their charges tossed out and one who took a plea deal (which, if I remember right, was largely due to being stuck with a pool lawyer who hadn't really done any of his homework). In other words, despite the dishonesty of the cops and the prosecution in these cases, they couldn't wrangle a single conviction on any of the charges.

The write-up below acknowledges all of this as well as the fact that bringing charges in the first place is a common, pre-emptive punishment that cops just love to use: it doesn't matter if the accused did anything illegal or not, they still have to take time off work, waste money, live with the anxiety, etc. It's bullshit, obviously, but it's also particularly vicious when it's applied to people who don't have the capacity to adequately defend themselves.

We should all be glad that this is over, and it'll be worth keeping tabs on how the support crew follows through on this promise: "We might be wrapping up this phase, but now that there are no longer court cases to worry about, we can start getting a lot more specific and direct about the lies and deceptions of the state without fearing we might jeopardize someone’s legal defense."

Cops won't stop behaving like this on their own. Hopefully there's at least some measure of accountability in the offing.

https://chuffed.org/project/131988-legal-funds-for-the-frederick-four

#FrederickFour #FrederickMD

Well, here's some good news for the new year: another one of the Frederick Four cases has been dismissed. If I remember correctly (I'm pretty sure I do, but no guarantees), that means two have been dismissed, one pleaded down (without turning on co-defendants), and another is pending trial.

The description of this latest decision is pretty interesting. The judge apparently both agreed, in her official capacity as a judge, that the arrest violated the defendant's Constitutional rights and also stated, as a matter of her personal opinion, that she had no particular issue with what the police did when they squelched the demonstration and arrested the defendant. That's a pretty wild admission and totally in keeping with the political culture that prevails in the US, where there's endless chest-thumping about "muh Constitution" and yet very little interest in actively defending or supporting action that challenges power.

Anyways, read on...

https://chuffed.org/project/131988-legal-funds-for-the-frederick-four?section=updates

#FrederickFour #law

Another one of the Frederick Four defendants had a hearing last week, which ultimately turned out to be a bench trial. The upshot, according to the support crew, was as follows:

"Jayla had her court date on the 20th, and there’s a lot to report after this one. Despite heavy pressure from her (panel appointed) lawyer, Jayla rejected a plea deal and had her first trial, with Judge Schafer presiding. The prosecutor dropped the riot charge before the trial even began, and the judge dismissed one of the charges, but found her guilty on two counts of disorderly conduct. He sentenced her to 18 months probation and 32 hours community service. Jayla has announced her intention to appeal, and to find a new lawyer. We’ll talk a little more about her and Andromeda’s experiences with their panel appointed attorneys in a little bit."

The outcome was, as they say later on, "a manageable sentence," but it's still pretty harsh for the "crime" committed. So she's appealing. Her lawyer was pretty much out to lunch, the cops were (surprise!) dishonest, and the judge actually handed down a harsher sentence than the prosecutor asked for.

The entire text is worth reading, especially if you haven't dealt with protest-related arrests much before.

In the meantime, you can also kick in to the defense fund at the link, if you've got a few bucks to spare.

https://chuffed.org/project/131988-legal-funds-for-the-frederick-four?section=updates

#FrederickFour #ACAB #MayDay #MutualAid #FoodNotBombs

Update on the Frederick Four cases:

One of the defendants had a hearing on Thursday and agreed to a plea deal: six months of unsupervised probation + 15 hours of community service in exchange for pleading guilty to "failure to obey" (could they not have come up with a more authoritarian-sounding charge?). So that‘s pretty much that for the one defendant.

The next hearing for one of the other defendants is on 8/20, so if you're within reachable distance from Frederick, MD, please do come out for support. After that, there's another hearing for the fourth defendant on September 23.

https://chuffed.org/project/131988-legal-funds-for-the-frederick-four?section=updates

#FrederickFour #MayDay #ACAB