War Protesters Go On Trial

War protesters go on trial
Jury selection begins today in Binghamton for ‘St. Patrick's Four'

By NANCY DOOLING
Gannett News Service

BINGHAMTON — Clare Grady admits she and three others spilled blood in a Tompkins County military recruiting office on St. Patrick's Day, 2003. What she wants the federal government to admit is that the war in Iraq is illegal and that, under international law, she has the right — in fact, an obligation — to prevent the United States from breaking the law.

Today, the 46-year-old Grady, her sister, Teresa Grady, 39, Peter De Mott, 58, and Daniel Burns, 45, will go on trial in Binghamton's federal court for splashing their blood in the Lansing recruiting office in protest against the Iraq war.

The St. Patrick's Four, as they call themselves, all live in Ithaca and are associated with a Catholic Worker movement. They face federal charges of conspiring to impede an officer of the United States, and entering and damaging federal property. A conviction on the conspiracy charge alone — the most serious of a four-count indictment — carries up to six years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

<snip>

But he and the others are willing to go to prison for what they believe in — even if it means having to be separated from his two young children. “What if I did nothing?” he asks. “What would I tell them?”

if given the full conversation in the courtroom of our concerns about violations of international law, and the history of nonviolent protest in our nation, that a jury of our peers will be able to comprehend the illegal nature of this war, and acquit."
-- Teresa B. Grady

Teresa knows that if a jury hears her side of the story, she will never be convicted. Why? Because in April of 2004, she and the other three were already tried for criminal mischief. The jury heard both the prosecutor and the St. Patrick's Four's explanation of the events in question. Nine of twelve jurors voted to acquit.

17 months later, the federal government, reportedly under pressure from the Bush administration, has charged the four with conspiracy. They will not be allowed to present the defense they did in the previous trial -- the one that would prevent any chance of their being convicted.

This is a new phase of American Justice, in the post-Patriot Act era. Four Catholic Workers are facing 6 years in prison and $250,000 fines. What threat do they pose? They threaten to expose the president as a liar, and to reveal that the war in Iraq is illegal and immoral.

siiting in jail with no charges or trial. And with the recent ruling that he (meaning you and me too amerika) can be held indefinitely with only baloney sandwiches for salvation or justice as long as he was declared "an enemy combatant". And the definition of what that might be is fungible.

Those who have never strayed too far from the peg know not how short is the leash. Getting shorter by the minute.


From d.a. levy
"Really"
                     the police try to protect
                     the banks - and everything else
                     is secondary"

St. Patrick's Four
<snip>
Summary. Two days before the invasion of Iraq, four Catholic Workers from Ithaca (NY), in an act of non-violent civil resistance, entered a military recruiting center, read a statement, and carefully poured their own blood around the vestibule. The four, all parents, were tried in Tompkins County Court in April 2004 on charges of criminal mischief. Nine of twelve jurors voted to acquit.

However, almost a year later, the US government decided to retry the four, now on charges of conspiracy. If convicted, they face up to six years in prison and $250,000 in fines. The St. Patrick's Four trial began on September 19 in Binghamton, NY.
</snip>

St. Patrick's Four

Fabricated charges brought by a vindictive and vengeful government.

St. Patrick's Four

<snip> Dozens of uniformed and plainclothes officers kept an eye on the crowd gathered in front of the downtown Binghamton federal building.

Two men and two women are being tried on federal conspiracy charges stemming from a 2003 protest at a military recruiting office near Ithaca. A mistrial was declared last year when a Tompkins County jury couldn't reach a verdict on criminal mischief charges in connection with the splashing of human blood at the recruitment center.

In addition to about two dozen uniformed officers deployed on the street around the federal building, a Binghamton police officer positioned in a parking garage used a videocamera to record the scene below.

Eight plainclothes officers -- some with binoculars -- also were poised on the roof of the garage to keep an eye on people who demonstrated support for the defendants and those who expressed backing for U-S troops in Iraq. <snip>

http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=3869567&nav=2aKD

<snip> Burns told a Binghamton radio station (W-N-B-F) that because the judge has indicated the defendants won't be permitted to fully discuss their motives, jurors won't get the complete story behind the protest.

http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=3868088&nav=2aKD

The prosecutor knows that in a fair trial, the four would never be convicted.