[Peace-discuss] Re: County Board tonight

[Brian Dolinar]

Chris and Mark,

It would be a big help if you could go to the board tonight.
Because of the UCLA case and the weak plea offered to Myers
I think the timing is crucial.

Wrap up on the Myers court date yesterday, Monday Nov 20.
There were about a dozen court watchers present.
Buzz was in the courtroom.
I heard the court cop whispering to Mary Schenk
"Thompson's hear for the Myers case."
They all took notice when Patrick Thompson was in the house.
And all know him by name.
They also know about the Myers case.
The cop in the courtroom is a Sheriff's deputy, another of Walsh's men.

There were several other court cases and after the delay
the Myers case came up.
But just before, Julia Rietz came in the courtroom
this was the first time i'd ever seen her actually in court.
She whispered in Mary Schenk's ear
then whispered to Tony Novak, Myers' atty
then walked out of the room.

They finally got to Myers' case.
Judge Clem was presiding and read through the proposed plea bargain
that had been offered to Myers.
The State (St.Atty asst. Clifton) had dropped the most serious charges
and Myers had agreed to plead guilty to disorderly conduct, Class 4 felony.
It claimed that Myers falsely reported to officers Heath and Matthews
that inmate Ray Hsieh was spitting and needed a spit hood.
This is factually incorrect, explained below.

The punishment was 24 months conditional discharge.
This means no probation, no jail time.
If Myers commits no crimes, the charge will be dropped, and can be expunged.
There were some nominal fees of $710.

But before they sealed the deal the St. Atty was asked to provide evidence.
Clifton asked for a joint continuance to resolve a problem.
The next date is December 1, 2pm in Courtroom A.

What this means, I'm not sure.
Heath and Matthews had already summoned a spit hood for Ray Hsieh
if I remember correctly.
Hsieh had inhaled an excess of tear gas and could not stop spitting.
Hsieh was hooded and in a restraint chair when Myers entered the scene.
Myers came in with a taser and went to work on Hsieh.
Most important here, MYERS WAS NOT BEING CHARGED WITH ILLEGALLY USING A TASER!!!

I would like to think that there was a delay because
Rietz realized if Myers was given a plea
this would give us another chance to embarass her.
But I don't know if they give a shit about us.

Chris and Mark - I think this is important.
Myers should be charged for his crime.
Myers sent away other officers and approached Hsied one on one
a clear abuse of police procedure.
Myers then tased Hsieh repeatedly while he was fully restrained.
This was his crime.

Maybe the St. Atty asst. has still not read the full 2-inch thick investigation
and couldn't get the story straight when asked for evidence.

I left copies of the Public i folded with my story on the front page.
They are in the couch/public area
on the picnic table behind one of the couches on the North wall.
Take a stack for the board.

The democrats ran their campaigns
saying how they had cleaned up conditions in the county jail.
Clearly, their work is not done.

Thanks for stepping to the plate.

Be back in town Sunday.
But will be on email.

Salute comrades.

BD

On 11/21/06, Christopher Evans <caevans2 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I am assuming that Mark Enslin and I  have authorized permission to ask the
> County Board to stop the use of tasers as representatives of
> Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice.
> Mark and I  plan on attending tonight at 7:00p.m.
> chris
>
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-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com