ACLU press release: Anti-War Protestors Victorious in Free Speech Suit

Conviction Overturned on Appeal for Camp Casey Protestors

Yesterday, two protestors won the reversal of criminal convictions relating to their activities during a peaceful protest of the Iraq war at Camp Casey I, near the President’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. The protestors, Austin psychologist Dr. Em Hardy and retired attorney and Navy veteran Hiram Myers of Oklahoma, were arrested on April 14, 2006 after they erected the tent between fences on county roads to draw attention to the Iraq war.

“This is a victory for our clients and for the First Amendment,” said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas. “We are delighted to see justice done in this case.”

Hardy and Myers were arrested for “obstruction of a roadway,” even though the evidence clearly showed, and the appeals court agreed, there was no obstruction whatsoever. The court noted that the “remote possibility” of obstruction is not an adequate basis for arrest.

“The First Amendment means nothing if it does not protect the right to peacefully assemble and protest the actions of the government, whatever one’s viewpoint,” said longtime ACLU cooperating attorney David Broiles, who represented Myers and Hardy pro bono. “Freedom itself is at stake when the government silences those who disagree with its actions.”

more . . . http://www.aclutx.org/projects/article.php?aid=549&cid=22

Ha! Love it!

:applause:

for Freedom