Decision Against Crawford, Texas Protesters Overturned by Appellate Court

[BradBlog]

Source: BRAD BLOG



Decision Against Crawford, Texas Protesters Overturned by Appellate Court
'One Small Step for Freedom of Speech', Writes One Member of Cindy Sheehan's Courageous Band of Iraq War Protesters...

That's "one small step for freedom of speech," our friend Jesse Dyen writes to us this afternoon.

Dyen was arrested, along with a number of other freedom fighters who had the temerity to show up near Bush's "brush ranch" in Crawford, Texas several years ago to protest against the war, only to be arrested (twice) by police enforcing an ordinance, passed by the locals after Cindy Sheehan's original stand there in the Summer of 2005, that no such protests on public lands was to be allowed.

Today, he writes to let us know that the guilty charges were overturned by an appellate court who decided in favor of the U.S. Constitution, the First Amendment and other quaint old notions such as those.

See below for Dyen's missive explaining what happened back then, and in the court decision today, to the courageous arrested "Prairie Dogs" (which happened to include legendary "Pentagon Papers" whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, as well as a number of other notables), and a video made from one of our favorite songs, as written by Dyen, during the original historic tipping point moment in Crawford back in the Summer of 2005…

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5695


Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5695

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Proud to give the first rec!

Many of those arrested are my friends. This is a HUGE victory for free speech.

Prairie Dogs - - > :yourock:

[rusty charly]

2. The courts need to start overturning these decisions

to pave the way for the potential Clinton or Obama protesters after 2009.

[BradBlog]

4. Fine by me...

...I'd go to jail for them too. (I might even end up being one of 'em! Time will tell...)

[elegantgypsy]

18. why overturn?

the court needs to leave this decision to stand so that we can protest hilary or obama or whoever is in charge. that was the point of getting arrested. we did it because bush is not entitled to hide from the citizens of this nation who have something to say to him. and if we want to say something to any of our elected officials, then they can not be allowed to create no speech zones around themselves, to cause changes in county, city, state law that provides protection for free speech. we don't need a free speech zone, america is a free speech zone.

in no other county in the state of texas is it illegal to put a tent in a ditch and camp in it, except for in a portion of mcclennan county that rings the bush pig farm. thus... the law was not created out of a concern for safety as stated, after all, in 26 days there was not a single accident in the ditch where we lived, it was created so that bush did not have to deal with the presence of protesters. and that is wrong.

the road still isn't clear, as it mcclennan county has passed another ordinance regarding camping in the ditches, and we may have to get arrested yet again. we need to wait and see what our lawyers have to say about the matter, and have another go at it.

as the wife of a soldier who has done a tour in iraq and stands to do another, i have every right to address my elected officials about this matter, to tell them how if feel about this war, and to refuse to be made an invisable casualty of it. and if i have to camp on bush's doorstep to do it, then so be it. i will.

[fascisthunter]

3. Today Has Been a Good Day, Brad (nt)

[frog92969]

5. Great news.

The Constitution is still relevant, victories are still possible.

[snappyturtle]

6. Nice to know the Constitution is still viable. Thanks for posting

this---does the heart good!

[cstanleytech]

7. I wont really cheer yet.

Atleast that is not until there is a huge ass $$$ fine against the town that teaches them and others not to try and trample on the constitution like this again because until then you can bet other towns will just do this in the future.

[bluerum]

8. Nice way to start the day.

[EnviroBat]

9. Is it just me or do those "SS" that are hauling Ellsberg away

look like clones? "Law enforcement" in this country is starting to look more like "the enemy" all the time.

[balantz]

14. No kidding! They do look like clones.

What kind of cops are those?

[elegantgypsy]

17. they aren't clones

folks,

as one of the prairie dogs that was arrested in this ditch, i can tell you that those officers were not clones. i have lots of experience with protest, and with being arrested at protest, and the mclennan county sheriffs under capt vanak and lt frankin are some of the most professional officers that i have ever seen. i know they were wearing their swat gear, but they were very polite with us, requested if we would like to leave the tents on our own, or be carried. they gave us the opportunity to decide we would not like to be arrested and get out of the tents, although none of us took that route. once we were arrested, the moved all of our cuffs to the front so that we would be more comfortable, and took us to the jail where they remained very polite through the entire process of booking us. at thanksgiving time, they even arranged for a magistrate to come to the jail and arraign us as a group, sitting on the group w bench, rather than put us in cells, and make us wait for the regular court to convene.

in the second arrests, they were no less professional, but they did go ahead and put everyone in cells, as the da refused to allow the same arraignment proceedure the 2nd time.

so, i know that police officers get a bad rap, and many times they deserve it, but the officers of mcclennan county do not deserve any such reputation. when we were camped in the ditch for 26 days, lt franklin was there every day to work with us to resolve problems so that there were very few arrests, except for those that the camp crews called for, such as the man who drove over our crosses. i had lt franklin and capt vanak's cell phone numbers and they came out for us or sent someone whenever we needed help.

if you ever get a chance to watch the little 6 minute video of camp casey put together by Laughing Tears Productins, you'll see that when the counter protesters came to visit us, the sheriffs lined up with their backs to our camp and faced the counter protesters, because that is where they thought trouble might come from. they actually arrested more of them than they did of us, except for when we elected to get arrested in the tents.

so, just remember, all is not what it seems in one simple picture. there is much more to the story.

[rasputin1952]

10. Things like this make me Proud to be an American...

The First Amendment, (and others), battered by a would be king and his court, is still alive...we are not going to go down easy under bush. We will arise again from this disaster of an administration...:patriot:

[orleans]

11. glad to hear this. if boosh thinks people will settle down after he is out of the white house

he is wrong.

[Maestro]

12. Great news! I am so glad that the original verdict

was overturned! :thumbsup:

[efhmc]

13. Great. where was this appellate court?

[txaslftist]

15. Too bad the Democratic Party has kicked these folks to the kerb.

I like antiwar people, especially ones willing to get arrested.

[Supersedeas]

16. Hell Yes!!

[bean fidhleir]

19. A conviction overturned prevents the victim from claiming damages, I believe

If charges are dropped before trial, or the victim acquitted, the victim can sue for false arrest. But a later overturning of a lower-court conviction protects the guilty (cops and government), I believe. So it makes a good strategy for the state: arrest and convict on some bogus ground, and let the conviction be overturned. Problem (the unwanted First Amendment action) solved at almost no cost to the government.