G20 Legal Support Update

October 25, 2009 at 7:38 am · Filed under From the Trenches, posted by ret marut


One month after the G20 protests in Pittsburgh, many still face felony and misdemeanor charges. Chief among these are the two people arrested for sending Twitter messages during the protests, whose home was subsequently raided by the FBI, and David Japenga, the young man ludicrously accused of being “single-handedly responsible for most of the $50,000 in damage” anarchists inflicted on corporations during the summit.

In addition to the felony charges filed in Pittsburgh and the house raid, the Twitter defendants—and perhaps others?—are apparently being targeted by a secretive federal grand jury. Supporters have established an informative and frequently updated blog here. A rudimentary support page for David Japenga can be found here. The Twitter case will set important precedents about people’s legal rights to use modern communications technology—a matter that could determine the shape of protest in this country for decades to come. It is also important to support David Japenga, who is the state’s scapegoat for this mobilization.

Meanwhile, last Thursday, over 100 other defendants appeared in court for charges stemming from the G20 protests. A smug judge lectured college students who had been randomly assaulted by police, while prosecutors and public defenders attempted to intimidate brutalized arrestees into accepting plea bargains and thus giving up their opportunity to sue the authorities over the abuse.

Donations to the support campaign for those targeted by the Twitter charges, the house raid, and the grand jury can be made here; the Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project is also taking donations for a legal fund to support arrestees.

ret marut said,

November 2, 2009 @ 1:34 am

Marty Levine, a local reporter who always does good work has an article out in this weeks citypaper about the G20 legal cases. He’s done some of the best reporting on the aftermath, but you all may not have seen some of his stuff because it doesn’t show up in Web searches.

The article says there were 175 cases set for court. Of those, 87 people agreed to perform community service to have their charges dismissed, and 16 had their charges withdrawn. Nine people pled guilty and 20 were found guilty of summary charges. There were also 20 postponements, 15 cases headed for trial, and 8 defendants who simply didn’t show up.

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A70752

ret marut said,

November 3, 2009 @ 1:35 am

Here’s some good news from friendsoftortuga.wordpress.com:

Tortuga House Update: Pennsylvania Drops All Charges Against Madison & Wallschlager for Twittering

In the face of a PR nightmare, Pennsylvania authorities have withdrawn all charges against two members of Tortuga accused of using Twitter to aid protesters at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. At a hearing today, instead of oral arguments regarding a defense motion to unseal the secret 18-page affidavit authorizing the arrests of Elliott Madison and Michael Wallschlager at a motel just outside of Pittsburgh, the prosecution immediately moved to withdraw all charges against the two before the defense had a chance to argue its case. Although clear from the beginning that these charges were absurd based on the State’s very own laws, our housemates were incarcerated for 36 hours, had their van towed and belongings confiscated, and one house member was given $30,000 in straight bail.

The District Attorney and his spokesperson were at pains to explain why the State would drop all charges against these dangerous twitterists and of course, refused to admit that these charges were unconstitutional and a heavy-handed attempt to scare anarchists and others from protesting in ways unsanctioned by the government. Instead, the prosecution says they decided that pursuing the charges “would be unwise” after consulting other law enforcement agencies and because of other pending investigations. The secret affidavit authorizing the arrests in Pennsylvania is set to become public on Nov. 23rd. We imagine the Pennsylvania State Police will seek an extension to keep this document sealed—perhaps in order to hide the flimsiness of their secret evidence? However, no matter the reason, we will fight to unseal this document and we will not let the State hide behind sealed evidence, obscure innuendo, and other traditional tactics used by secret police.

Though it is a victory that all the charges against our two housemates were dropped in Pennsylvania, we cannot forget that there is still a mysterious grand jury and other “ongoing investigations” out there. While we may be free from criminal proceedings now, we are still under the threat of future charges/indictments. What these might be, when they might happen, and what cause the State has is, of course, secret. Although our only option is to wait and see, we refuse to let them go about their business ruining our lives in peace and quiet and will continue fighting them every step of the way.

tortuga16 said,

November 5, 2009 @ 4:38 pm

That is amazing news! Ret, i’d like to talk with you if possible about the G20 protests; please email me at coheedcambria14@gmail.com

ret marut said,

November 6, 2009 @ 12:31 am

Here’s the latest G20 arrestee news:

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20091105121137304

3 people had their felony charges dropped! But meanwhile:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/twitter-anarchist-search-uphel/

A Federal Judge ruled that the thugs who raided the home of the Twitter arrestees have every right to keep going through their belongings, even though the Pennsylvania charges against them have been dropped. Their tribulations are far from over.

“Tortuga16″–I’m not a real person, just a cyber entity for the purposes of maintaining a webpage in this totally alienated medium. You know? Your best bet is to email the general purpose email at this site (hello@crimethinc.com) and ask that it be forwarded to a real live person who can help with your inquiry.

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