[Peace] Chairman Fred in town for Patrick Thompson trial Wednesday

[Brian Dolinar]

More Witnesses to Appear in Post-Trial Motion for Patrick Thompson

Wednesday, Feb. 7, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Champaign County Courthouse, downtown Urbana, Main and Vine, Courtroom A

Press conference at noon lunch break
with Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr.
at the Independent Media Center (old Urbana post office behind the Courthouse)

On Wednesday, February 7, a judge will hear testimony from several
witnesses in an attempt to gain Patrick Thompson a new trial.  In July
2006, Thompson was found guilty of home invasion and sexual abuse.
Thompson's new attorney, Robert Kirchner, is claiming that Thompson
received ineffective counsel and has not had a fair trial.  On January
5, 2007, six witnesses appeared in the first day of the post-trial
hearings.  This Wednesday, Thompson's former attorney Harvey Welch
will take the stand, along with Thompson himself, the accuser, and
others.  We will be holding a press conference at the noon lunch break
with Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr., prison activist and founder of the
Prisoners of Conscience Committee (P.O.C.C.).

Patrick Thompson is the co-founder of V.E.Y.A. (Visionaries and
Educators of Youth and Adults) and one of the videographers who
created a controversial documentary in 2004 called Citizen's Watch.
The documentary exposed the unfair treatment of the black community by
local police in Champaign and Urbana.  In August 2004, Thompson was
charged with felony eavesdropping, charges which were later dropped.
The same month he was also accused by a woman of home invasion and
sexual abuse.  Thompson's supporters believe the two incidents are
related and are retribution for his political activism.

Fred Hampton, Jr. is a grassroots activist who has worked inside and
outside of the prison system for change.  He is the son of Fred
Hampton, Sr., head of the Black Panther Party in Chicago who was
murdered by Chicago Police on December 4, 1969.  Just weeks later,
Fred Hampton, Jr. was born into the struggle and has carried on his
father's organizing.  In 1990, he became President of the National
People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (N.P.D.U.M.).  While incarcerated
for nine years on an alleged arson, he founded the Prisoners of
Conscience Committee (P.O.C.C.).  Since his release in 2001, he has
become one of the foremost fighters against America's prisons, what he
calls our modern day "concentration camps."

For more information see "More Testimony Comes to Light in Post-trial
Motion for Patrick Thompson" at ucimc.org.

*Please be patient with the court police, as we have seen an increase
of enforcing quiet in the courtroom.  If late, you may have to wait
for a recess to enter the courtroom.

-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com