The New Age of Conspiracy: An Introductory Look at the Use of Conspiracy Charges Against Social Movements and Radicals (e.g. the Asheville11 and RNC8)
Where: Illini Union, Room 407 (1401 W. Green Urbana)
When: 6 PM - 8 PM
Conspiracy charges continue to be issued against social movements and politically radical individuals. These charges have long-term implications for the target individuals and movements, ranging from exaggerated felony accusations with excessively high bail to media exposure that makes it difficult for the accused to find employment or housing later in life, to public stigmatization of the movement.
Lena Mercer will discuss two recent cases that involve conspiracy charges - the Asheville 11 case and the case of the RNC8 - as well as the meanings of these charges and their implications for future political organizers.
Background information about these two cases is below.
Asheville 11
On May 1, 2010 eleven people were arrested and charged with nearly $20,000 worth of damage to store front and car windows in a tourist section of downtown Asheville. Picked at random the eleven were swept off sidewalks and into waiting police vehicles. They have become the targets of egregious attempts by the Asheville Police Department to show it maintains control.
What began as ten misdemeanor charges and $10,000 bail for each person, quickly ratcheted up to $65,000 bail with an additional three felonies added to every person. Each are facing over five years in jail; a higher penalty then often found in domestic violence cases.
In a clearly desperate act, the state is aggressively persecuting these eleven by charging them with every crime they can muster, demanding exorbitant bail and publicly slandering the defendants. With no evidence against them the presumption of innocence has been completely abandoned by the media and police.
(taken from http://asheville11defense.com/
RNC 8
The RNC 8 are: Luce Guillén-Givins, Max Specktor, Nathanael Secor, Eryn Trimmer, Monica Bicking, Erik Oseland, Robert Czernik and Garrett Fitzgerald. Their case has proceeded as follows:
All were preemptively arrested prior to the 2008 RNC in response to their political organizing. They were falsely charged with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism under the Minnesota PATRIOT Act.
Later that year, prosecutors added charges of Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Damage to Property in Furtherance of Terrorism, as well as both charges without the terrorism enhancement, for a total of four felony charges per defendant.
In early 2009, facing mounting political pressure, prosecutors removed the terrorism enhancements, leaving each defendant with two felony charges each.
In August 2010, Erik Oseland accepted a plea agreement to a single gross misdemeanor charge. In September 2010, all charges against Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, and Luce Guillén-Givins were dropped, leaving four defendants to face trial beginning on October 25, 2010.
(taken from http://rnc8.org/)
Funding for this event is provided by SORF. This event is sponsored by Radical Education for Autonomous Persons (REAP), a registered student organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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