[Peace-discuss] St. Patrick's Four Found Innocent of Conspiracy

[C. G. Estabrook]

[This is very good news.  I thought the government was going
to win this one.  --CGE]

   Published on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 
   by the Ithaca Journal (New York)
   St. Patrick's Four Found Innocent of Conspiracy
   Ithaca war protesters guilty of misdemeanor charges
   by Nancy Dooling
 
BINGHAMTON, New York - Four Ithaca protesters convicted Monday
of trespassing and damaging government property when they
spilled their blood in a Lansing military recruiting office
can continue peaceful protests “to their hearts' content”
until they are sentenced in late January, a judge said.

But they were warned Monday by Judge Thomas J. McAvoy not to
break any laws while protesting, something the judge said
would land them in jail before they are scheduled to be
sentenced Jan. 24-27. McAvoy turned down a request from
Assistant U.S. Attorney Miroslav Lovric to put all four
protesters in jail on Monday.

A 12-member jury said Monday that Ithacans Daniel Burns, Peter
De Mott, Clare Grady and Teresa Grady broke the law,
convicting them on two misdemeanor-level counts of trespassing
and damaging federal property. The four could each get
sentenced to up to one year in federal prison, though one of
their legal advisers said a prison sentence of several months
for each protester was more likely.

The jury found the four protesters, who represented themselves
in court, not guilty of conspiring to impede a federal
officer, the most serious of the four counts. A conviction on
that count could have landed them in federal prison for up to
six years.

Three of the four — De Mott, Burns and Clare Grady — were
convicted of an additional count of trespassing.

William Quigley, a Loyola University law professor who was one
of three legal advisers to the four protesters, called the
jury's decision Monday a victory for dissent in the United
States. “Given what the jury heard, the verdict was a good
outcome,” the New Orleans resident said.

The verdict was a signal to the government that it overreacted
with the conspiracy charge, Quigley said. Misdemeanor-level
trespassing convictions are more typical convictions for
protesters charged in federal courts, Quigley said after the
verdict was announced.

The four had been forbidden by McAvoy to use international law
as a defense, namely that what they did at the Lansing
recruiting office was not a crime because they acted to
prevent a larger crime — war with Iraq. But despite the
judge's warning, protesters continued to try to raise the
issue during their six-day trial.

The jurors, who deliberated six hours on Friday before
returning to court Monday for at least 1 1/2 more hours,
declined comment after the trial. The verdicts were announced
about 11:20 a.m. Monday.

Lovric said afterward that he was not disappointed with the
verdicts.

“The defendants are going to be held accountable,” the
prosecutor said. Their jury trial last year in Tompkins County
ended in a mistrial after jurors couldn't agree on state
charges lodged against them in connection with the March 17,
2003, protest.

The four admitted they spilled their blood on the walls,
floor, door and windows of the recruiting office. Blood was
also poured on an American flag and other items in the lobby
of the office. A recruiter testified that some of the blood
ended up on one of his hands.

Lovric, who said he'd recommend jail time for all four
offenders at sentencing, isn't confident that the protesters
will refrain from further law-breaking.

“They think they have the right to do this if they choose,” he
said.

Lovric praised the jurors for doing their job under what the
prosecutor described as a circus-like atmosphere.

A courtroom packed with the protesters' supporters frequently
burst into applause. Anti-war protesters armed with signs were
present outside the courthouse on Henry Street throughout the
trial. The judge cited Teresa Grady, Peter De Mott and Daniel
Burns with contempt of court after they either failed to tell
the jury who drew the blood used in the protest or brought up
issues they'd been forbidden to mention by the judge. The
judge has not yet decided on punishment for the contempt
citations, which carry possible jail time and fines.

But Quigley defended the protesters' conduct.

“(Lovric) may call it a circus,” the attorney said. “We call
it democracy.”

Copyright © 2005 The Ithaca Journal

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