[Peace] More Patrick Thompson pre-trial TODAY (Wednesday)

[Randall Cotton]

There are two court appearances scheduled TODAY, Wednesday, for Patrick
Thompson's cases

Eavesdropping charges -  Today, Wednesday November 17th 9:30am Courtroom A
Home Invasion and related charges - Today, Wednesday November 17th 1:30am
Courtroom A

If you recall, Patrick Thompson is the other member of VEYA that was charged
with eavesdropping for VEYA's publicized effort to document local police
conduct by videotape. Eavesdropping charges were dropped for Martell Miller
after public outcry, but not for Patrick Thompson. The ACLU has officially
weighed in on this court case, supporting the call for Patrick's
eavesdropping charges to be dropped as well.

The Home Invasion, Criminal Sexual Assault and other charges may or may not
have been levied in relation to Patrick's activities with VEYA, but
regardless there is a call for monitoring the proceedings of this court case
to ensure a fair trail, since there is at least the potential of abuse by
police or the State's Attorney, possibly in retribution for Patrick's
contribution to VEYA's video documentary work on police conduct.

It's unclear exactly what will happen during these appearances (and there
will be a number of cases attended to before Patrick's case comes up in
these two time slots), but regardless, VEYA is appealing for community
turnout in support of dropped eavesdropping charges and a fair trial for the
other charges.

R