In this update:
1. Scott’s trial continued
2. ACTION ITEM: Come to Davenport to support Scott!
3. Carrie petitioning for a re-hearing
4. Feb 13: Benefit film screening
5. Feb. 20: “State Repression and Social Movements: Grand Juries, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and Community Activism
6. Scholars for Academic Justice launch new site
—————–
1. Scott’s trial continued
Scott’s trial has been continued to May 3rd. He has a pre-trial schedule now, which includes deadlines for motions, a hearing on them on Feb. 23rd, and a final pre-trial conference on April 12th.

2. ACTION ITEM: Come to Davenport to support Scott!
We want to get as many people to Davenport as possible for Scott’s motions hearing on Feb 23rd (11am) and the trial itself on May 3rd. We’ll be organizing car pools from Minneapolis and housing for people in Davenport, so watch for future updates about how to plug in if you’re in the Twin Cities. We’re also encouraging folks from other places to organize their carpools. It will be especially important to get folks out for his trial as it conflicts with 4 days of motions hearings for the RNC 8 in St. Paul, reducing the number of people we can send from here.

3. Carrie’s attorneys have filed a petition for a re-hearing of her appeal, based on the fact that her attorneys were denied access to secret evidence used against her, and the fact that the statute of limitations on the 2004 ALF action at the UofI has expired. The dissenting judicial opinion in her appellate ruling (available here) also suggests that whatever the “evidence” was didn’t satisfy the government’s obligation to demonstrate that the statute of limitations on the incident in question hasn’t expired.

4. Feb 13: Benefit film screening
Unsettling Minnesota (http://unsettlingminnesota.org/) is putting on a double feature and potluck at 6:30 pm to help raise funds for Scott and Carrie’s legal defense ($5-10 suggested donation). The documentaries being screened are “Forgotten Bird of Paradise” and “Tar Sands Documentary: Downstream.” The event is at Arise! Bookstore, 2441 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls.

5. Feb. 20: “State Repression and Social Movements: Grand Juries, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and Community Activism”

A talk with legendary radical attorney Stu Sugarman and Professor David N. Pellow

When: Saturday, February 20th, potluck at 6:30pm, talk at 7pm
Where: Social Science Building Room 1114, University of Minnesota campus

On the anniversary of the arrest of the AETA 4, join sociologists, attorneys, and community activists to learn about the history of state repression directed at activists and scholars involved in social change movements.

Information will be provided on the defense of the following activists: -the AETA 4, four Santa Cruz activists facing “animal enterprise
terrorism” charges for sidewalk-chalking and other 1st-amendment-protected activities
-Scott DeMuth, a grand jury resister now facing false charges of “animal enterprise terrorism”
-Carrie Feldman, currently in her third month of incarceration in Iowa for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury

Sponsored by Scholars for Academic Justice, Earth Warriors are OK! (EWOK!), the Coldsnap Legal Collective, the Scott and Carrie Support Committee, and the Minnesota Global Justice Project
more info at: http://www.midwestgreenscare.org

6. Scholars for Academic Justice launch new site
Scholars for Academic Justice is a group of academics in solidarity with Scott DeMuth. Their new website is: http://scholarsforacademicjustice.org. Check back soon for updates and new features!

In Solidarity,
the SCSC

1. We need a fiscal sponsor (and more money!)
2. Scott’s Feb. 8th hearing
3. Feb. 8: Fundraiser show
4. Feb. 20: ”State Repression and Social Movements: Grand Juries, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and Community Activism”
5. CLDC article on Carrie and Scott
————–
1. As we continue the drive to raise funds for Scott and Carrie’s support fund, we are in need of a way for people to make tax-deductible donations to their
cause. If you have or know of a 501(c)(3)-status non-profit that may be
willing to act as a fiscal sponsor for this project, please contact
scottandcarrie@riseup.net ASAP.

On this note, we still need to raise a lot of money. We expect legal and other
support costs for both Carrie and Scott to continue mounting over the next
months, and have quite a ways to go in meeting our fundraising goals.
Information about how support funds are used is available here:
http://tinyurl.com/ybp8srd

Please consider making a contribution and/or setting up a fundraiser of some
sort in your town. You can donate through PayPal here:
http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com/what-you-can-do
or by sending a check, made out to ”Coldsnap Legal Collective” with ”EWOK!” in
the memo line, to:
EWOK! c/o Coldsnap
PO Box 50514
Minneapolis, MN 55405.

2. In our last email, we said that Scott has a pre-trial conference scheduled
for February 8th and suggested a possible need for folks to travel to Davenport
for courtroom support. It now looks like the conference will be held over the
phone between attorneys and the judge, so we can all hold off on the drive to
Iowa for the moment. Scott’s trial is still scheduled to begin on March 1st,
but we’re hopeful that it will be continued.

3. If you’re in Minneapolis, come to a benefit show on Monday, February 8th.
It’ll be at Memory Lanes (2520 26th Ave S), and the lineup is:
children of euler
sharp teeth
thrash compactor
and frozen teens

4. …and on February 20th, join EWOK!, the SCSC, and a number of other groups
for a speaking event related to Scott, Carrie, and the AETA 4:

(flyer here)

“State Repression and Social Movements: Grand Juries, the Animal
Enterprise Terrorism Act, and Community Activism”

A talk with legendary radical attorney Stu Sugarman and Professor David N.
Pellow

When: Saturday, February 20th, potluck at 6:30pm, talk at 7pm
Where: Social Science Building Room 1114, University of Minnesota campus

On the anniversary of the arrest of the AETA 4, join sociologists, attorneys,
and community activists to learn about the history of state repression
directed
at activists and scholars involved in social change movements.

Information will be provided on the defense of the following activists:
-the AETA 4, four Santa Cruz activists facing ”animal enterprise terrorism”
charges for sidewalk-chalking and other 1st-amendment-protected activities
-Scott DeMuth, a grand jury resister now facing false charges of ”animal
enterprise terrorism”
-Carrie Feldman, currently in her third month of incarceration in Iowa for
refusing to testify before a federal grand jury

Sponsored by Scholars for Academic Justice, Earth Warriors are OK!
(EWOK!), the Coldsnap Legal Collective, the Scott and Carrie Support
Committee, and the Minnesota Global Justice Project

5. Lastly, the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) has put out an excellent
article about Carrie and Scott. Check it out at: http://tinyurl.com/yctb2z8

(Click here for a .pdf version)

For Immediate Release
January 29, 2010

Contacts:
Lauren Regan, Atty & Exec. Dir., CLDC, 541-687-9180
Ben Rosenfeld, Atty & Board Member, CLDC, 415-285-8091

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Declines to Release 20 Year Old Carrie Feldman, Jailed For More Than Two Months On Contempt of Grand Jury

Civil Liberties Monitors Charge That Federal Prosecutor Is On Personal Crusade Against Anarchist Ideology; Courts Do Not Rein Him In

Davenport, IA: U.S. Attorney Clifford R. Cronk III is using his office’s investigation of an alleged 2004 animal rights-related break-in at the University of Iowa to harass and punish targets whom he claims identify as anarchists, a political ideology dating back to the early 19th Century. To date, neither his superiors in the Department of Justice, nor the federal courts, have done anything to curtail his abuse of power. In behavior reminiscent of the darkest days of the McCarthy witch hunts, Cronk argues in court documents that anarchists are domestic terrorists who should be locked up for posing a threat to civil society based on nothing but the prosecutor’s unfounded political bias.

The Animal Liberation Front reportedly claimed credit for the 2004 break-in at the University of Iowa’s Psychology Department, removing lab rats and mice and vandalizing computers. There were no reported injuries. In November 2009, just days before the five year statute of limitations expired (the date after which the government could no longer bring charges), prosecutors subpoenaed Scott DeMuth, a 22-year old Dakota language student and sociology graduate student at the University of Minnesota, and 20-year old Carrie Feldman, to testify before a grand jury said to be investigating the incident. The government gave no public reason for believing the two had any information. Both appeared before the grand jury but refused on principle to testify, and each publicly denounced the process as a star chamber which utilizes secret evidence and deprives witnesses of their right to counsel and other basic constitutional protections.

Over thirty years ago, Justice William O. Douglas expressed almost the identical sentiment, writing “This great institution of the past has long ceased to be the guardian of the people for which purpose it was created at Runnymede. . .Any experienced prosecutor will admit that he can indict anybody at any time for almost anything before any grand jury.” United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 19, 23 (1973 (Douglas, J., dissenting, quoting Chicago-based district judge William Campbell).
In clear retaliation for refusing to testify, U.S. Attorney Cronk had DeMuth indicted under the new Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act for conspiring to commit the lab break-in, despite the fact that the law was enacted two years after the break-in and cannot apply retroactively; despite the fact that DeMuth was a minor at the time of the alleged break-in; and despite the prosecutor’s apparent total lack of evidence. Upon reviewing the so-called “evidence,” a federal magistrate judge wrote:

The Court viewed portions of a videotape depiction of the damage inflicted at the University of Iowa during this occurrence. At least four individuals could be seen during the taping of the event. Special Agent Reinwart was of the opinion that one of these individuals had a resemblance in terms of physique and stature with Demuth. However, Special Agent Reinwart did not testify that he knew Demuth participated in the occurrence. (See Court’s Order of 11/24/09, p1-2.)

Nevertheless, U.S. Attorney Cronk is going forward with his prosecution of DeMuth. Persecution is a better word for it. After the court ordered DeMuth released from jail pending trial, the U.S. Attorney maneuvered to keep him locked up over the long Thanksgiving holiday, resorting to unethical and unconstitutional political stereotyping and guilt by association. He argued:

[T]he defendant did not deny that he is an anarchist. He did not deny involvement with ALF. . .Defendant’s writings, literature, and conduct suggest that he is an anarchist and associated with the ALF movement. Therefore, he is a domestic terrorist. As such, he poses a serious of risk of danger to those he opposes and to law enforcement as well as a risk of flight to avoid prosecution. (See Government’s Motion for Revocation of Release Order, 11-25-09, pg. 3.)

Meanwhile, on November 17, the court found Carrie Feldman in contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury, even though she never actually disobeyed the court’s order. Rather, the court presumed that she would refuse to testify based on her prior statements. “This is a plain violation of Supreme Court precedent,” said Lauren Regan, Executive Director of the Eugene Oregon-based Civil Liberties Defense Center. “The witness must be brought before the grand jury and refuse to answer questions put to her in front of them before she can be found in contempt.” In this case, after Feldman asserted a Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify, the court ordered her to accept immunity for her testimony, finding that this negated the privilege. However, the court never sent her back before the grand jury before holding her in contempt.

At the contempt hearing, Feldman’s lawyer put her father on the stand to testify that incarcerating her would be harmful to his ailing mother-in-law whom Feldman looks after. The prosecutor pounced on this opportunity to interrogate her father irrelevantly about whether his daughter is an anarchist, rather than concern himself with the legal issues at hand. (See transcript of hearing, 11-17-09.)

“If the prosecutor had substituted the word ‘capitalist’ or ‘socialist’, or ‘Christian’ or ‘Muslim’ for every utterance of the word ‘anarchist,’ correction by his superiors or the courts would have been swift,” said Attorney Ben Rosenfeld, a member of the Board of the Civil Liberties Defense Center. “Mr. Cronk appears to have forgotten, and no one in charge seems to care, that we are not supposed to condemn entire groups of people based on their beliefs.” Cronk later sought to defend his interrogation of Feldman’s father, writing:

By definition, anarchy is a “state of society without government or law” and an anarchist is “a person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed.” (See Government’s Sur Reply Brief, 1-21-10, pg. 10.)

Cronk did not attribute the quotations, which appear to come from dictionary.com, and which differ starkly from those found elsewhere, including at wikipedia.com.

“He could not be more ignorant about what anarchism actually means,” Rosenfeld said. “If he had read anything by actual anarchist thinkers, he would know that anarchism is an intellectual philosophy which holds that governments everywhere are constituted to protect the rich, that they share more repressive similarities than differences, and that we should all work together at the local and grass roots levels to lift up the meek among us. In a sense, it is the best of libertarianism and democratic socialism combined.” Lauren Regan added: “Smearing all anarchists as violent criminals is like blaming all Christians for the murder of abortion doctors. The irony is that by engaging in a political witch hunt, the U.S. Attorney is underscoring the anarchist critique of our current system, as well as people’s distrust of the grand jury process.”

Mr. Cronk’s personal crusade is not without official context. On January 14, 2006, FBI spokesman David Picard told CBS affiliate Channel 13 in Sacramento: “One of our major domestic terrorism programs is the ALF, ELF, and anarchist movement, and it’s a national program for the FBI.” His statement echoes J. Edgar Hoover’s infamous description of the FBI’s ideologically-driven Counterintelligence Program (“COINTELPRO”), designed in Hoover’s words to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” undesirable political targets. Similar to Cronk’s conduct in this case, another federal prosecutor, Wallace Kleindienst, told reporters in December 2005, following animal rights activist Rod Coronado’s conviction for nonviolently disrupting a mountain lion hunt in Arizona: “I know he wasn’t tried here for being a violent anarchist. This trial wasn’t about Rod Coronado being a terrorist, but he is one.”

The government’s careless and anti-constitutional syllogism that animal rights activists equal “anarchists” equal “domestic terrorists” appears to come from the upper echelons of the Department of Justice. On January 20, 2006, in a press release announcing the first arrests in Operation Backfire, the Oregon-centered investigation into a series of politically motivated eco-arsons, FBI Director Robert Mueller vowed of the ALF and ELF: “We are committed to working with our partners to disrupt and dismantle these movements….” Since then, he has repeatedly revealed that the FBI is targeting anarchists generally. For example, addressing the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on September 10, 2007, he equated anarchists with terrorists, saying: “Single issue groups and domestic terrorists, which include white supremacists, anarchists, and eco-terrorists, continue to be a concern.”

“In light of such inflammatory remarks by the FBI’s own Director, it is clear that prosecutors like Mr. Cronk have been given the green light to ignore the Constitution and the law, and would seek to punish Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth based on nothing but his labeling of them as anarchists,” said Attorney Lauren Regan. Rosenfeld added, “Our government should not be in the business of trying to ‘dismantle’ political movements, as the FBI Director put it.”

Meanwhile, more than two months after the court found her in contempt, 20-year Carrie Feldman still sits in jail, accused of no crime. She appealed her contempt ruling, but in a 2-1 split decision issued on January 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit declined to release her. The majority gave no reason other than to say that “sealed documents [submitted by] the government … indicate that the statute of limitations has not necessarily expired…” (emphasis added). However, the dissenting Judge – who presumably viewed the same secret evidence submitted by the government – found that the statute of limitations had expired, and therefore that the government cannot hold Feldman under subpoena, since grand juries may not be used to gather evidence for prosecution once a crime has been charged, as it has in this case. The Court did not address the allegations of prosecutorial bias, or whether the lower court erred when it found Feldman in contempt without sending her back into the grand jury room to testify. (See Appellate Order, 1-22-10.)

“Everyone thinks we’re moving toward a greater recognition of civil rights under Obama,” said Attorney Ben Rosenfeld. “Instead we’re going backward – all the way back to the sedition laws, and the political inquisitions of Joseph McCarthy.”

(For more information, see the support website for Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth at www.davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com, where a number of the documents cited in this press release are posted.)

Scott’s new lawyer, Michael Deutsch, filed a motion to continue the March 1st trial date to allow him proper time to investigate and prepare for trial. Also in support of the motion Michael stated he had two small kids and a working wife which prohibited a trial before June 1st. The motion also stated that Scott wanted to finish his graduate work before the trial.

Magistrate Shields denied the motion saying a June 1st trial date was “unrealistic” and,  more or less, that defense counsel’s family issues and Scott’s education needs were irrelevant. The defense was given leave to file another motion with a more “realistic” request for a trial date.

Apparently the Court wants to railroad this case to trial without regard for the defense need to prepare or the needs of the counsel or the
defendant.

The defense has filed a new motion requesting an April 21st trial date, and also cited numerous motions that will be filed challenging the indictment, the statute and the whole prosecution theory; they have asked for 30 days to file these motions. We await a decision on all of this.

Meanwhile, Scott may have to proceed with a pre-trial conference on February 8. If this is the case, we’re asking that supporters who are able travel to Davenport for the hearing.

In Solidarity,

the SCSC

Carrie would like to ask that people hold off on sending her books for now, because she’s received so many that she ran out of room in her property box! She says thank you for all she’s been sent so far, and we’ll let you know when she can get more.

Thank you all for all the support!

1.23.10

1. Update on Carrie Feldman

2. Update on Scott DeMuth

3. Update on the Third Person Subpoenaed to the Davenport Grand Jury

———————————————-

1. Update on Carrie Feldman

On Friday, January 22, we found out that the appeal of the motions for Carrie’s release was denied. This decision means that she will remain a hostage of the state for an indeterminate length of time, up to the remainder of the grand jury (9 more months).

Carrie was taken hostage after refusing to testify before the grand jury in Davenport last November 17 and appeared before a judge on December 8 for the hearing on the motions filed for her release. On December 16, the judge issued his decision denying the motions for her release, at which point an appeal was filed. The court originally scheduled the appeal decision deadline on a date that was further than 30 days from the appeal date, which would have required them to release her pending the appeal. When called on their violation of the rule they created, they simply moved the decision deadline up so she would have to remain in custody.

But the dirty tricks didn’t stop there. The appellate judges also asked the prosecution to file an additional reply to the appeal, which is a rare move and leads one to speculate that the judges felt they needed more to substantiate the decision they wanted to make–to keep Carrie in custody. They also allowed the prosecution to file secret evidence that not even Carrie’s lawyers can see.

Although this appeal has been denied, the fight for Carrie’s release is not over. We’ll keep you updated on future motions filed for her release as we have more information.

2. Update on Scott DeMuth

Thanks to the tremendous generosity of scores of people, as well as a personal loan, we were able to make the retainer payment for Scott’s lawyer, Michael Deutsch. Scott was able to meet with him earlier this month and is working on his defense now.

Thank you to everyone who stepped up to help Scott when he was faced with such a large amount of money to raise! While his legal costs will continue to grow and he will continue to need support, he feels that Michael Deutsch will be an excellent addition to his legal team.

More funds are needed to help pay for ongoing legal costs for both Scott and Carrie, so you and your friends can continue to donate online through PayPal by clicking on the Donate button at the right or by mailing checks or money orders made out to Coldsnap Legal Collective with “EWOK!” in the memo line to Coldsnap Legal Collective, P.O. Box 50514, Minneapolis, MN 55405. Thanks!

3. Update on the Third Person Subpoenaed to the Davenport Grand Jury

Leana Stormont, currently a lawyer in Virginia, was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury last Wednesday. Her lawyers are fighting the subpoena and there is no indication that she is cooperating with the state.

An outspoken animal rights activist when she was a law student at the University of Iowa, Leana experienced overt harassment by the FBI after the ALF action in 2004. She chronicles her experiences in a 2006 article entitled “Caring About Animals is Not a Crime” (available at http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/5425).

We’ve gotten numerous inquiries as to how the funds we raise are being split between Carrie and Scott, and where it’s all going. Though we won’t be making bookkeeping and exact expenditures public, we value transparency and feel an obligation to share our strategy with the movement and all of Scott and Carrie’s supporters.

For starters, we consider support work for Scott and Carrie to be both an act of friendship and one of political principle. It is incredibly important to us that fundraising not become a popularity contest, or any sort of competition. We have limited energies and though Scott and Carrie’s needs are different (e.g., Carrie needs commissary but Scott will have considerably higher legal costs), we are committed to doing as much as we can for the both of them, which means not squandering anything on needless divisions.

Carrie and Scott are two committed anarchists who value supporting each other and all targets of state repression as much as getting support for themselves. To that end and in the interest of maximizing output from communities that are already strapped for cash, we have decided to pool resources and allocate them equitably. That means that everything we raise goes into one account. Once it’s there, we decide where it goes based on an honest assessment of the needs they each have. This assessment evolves with their situations, and we have made and will continue to make every attempt to disburse funds accordingly.

So far, the majority of funds raised have gone to pay attorney’s fees and legal costs. We expect this will continue to be the case. We have also spent a considerable amount on commissary- initially for both of them and now, just for Carrie. Commissary funds pay for mailing supplies and other needed items in jail but, mostly, for phone calls, which are exorbitantly
priced. Some funds have also gone to pay travel costs (gas) for supporters to visit Carrie- this is a 12-hour round trip drive for most of us- and to be a physical presence of support in courtroom proceedings for both of them. These last few things are essential to Scott and Carrie feeling the support of their communities, and to Carrie in particular, as she remains isolated from us hundreds of miles away.

In solidarity,
the Scott and Carrie Support Committee (SCSC)

We’ve just received word that another person has been subpoenaed to the Davenport, IA federal grand jury investigating a 2004 ALF action at the U of I. We’ll put more information out when we have it. In the meantime, please contact us by emailing ewok@riseup.net or calling 612-29-EWOKS if you or anyone you know has been subpoenaed, indicted or otherwise harassed in regards to this matter. Stay strong, and fuck grand juries!

Carrie says thank you for all the books, mail and support she’s received so far! A few words about books and mail:

She sent us a list of books she’s received so far. You can find it here. Check it out before you send books to avoid duplicates!

She says she is particularly excited about getting “whatever books you think are good,” whether or not they are related to math or science fiction.

Also, the jail has been getting stricter about political content in her mail: so far, they have denied printouts of political articles and a solidarity statement. In at least one case, there were letters written on the back of these printouts, and she didn’t get the letter! She wants to ask people to be mindful of what they say, and if you’re going to send political stuff along, please write your letter separately so she’ll get it.

Coincidentally or not, the first day came recently where Carrie didn’t get any mail, so if you’ve been thinking of writing her a letter, now’s a good time to do it!

Thanks again for all the support, and keep it coming!

Since our last update, Scott has succeeded in finding an awesome radical attorney, Michael Deutsch from the People’s Law Office in Chicago. A brief bio is available here: http://www.peopleslawoffice.com/bio/3/.

This is great news, but it also means that we need to raise a $10,000 retainer by next Wednesday. If you’ve been thinking about making a donation to Scott and Carrie’s defense fund at some point, or about putting together a fundraiser, the need is greatest now. Scott’s charge is absurd, but the federal government is quite capable of securing false convictions, and he needs an experienced and committed attorney in order to fight this and win. If we’re not able to raise this initial sum, it will be a serious setback in the progress of Scott’s case and support for both him and Carrie.

Donations can be made two ways: 1. Via the Paypal button at http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com 2. By writing a check to “Coldsnap Legal Collective” with “EWOK!” in the memo line, and mailing it to:

EWOK! c/o Coldsnap

PO Box 50514

Minneapolis, MN 55405

(If you mail a check, please email us at ewok@riseup.net and let us know to expect it.)

Please donate, and please spread this plea far and wide. If you need help setting up a fundraiser, contact us at ewok@riseup.net. Thanks for your continued support, friends of Scott and Carrie