January 4th, 2009
We are happy to report that during the first two weeks of December charges were dropped in over 30 of the cases resulting from the mass arbitrary arrests at the Shepard Road site on September 1st, 2008, as well as many others from different RNC arrest sites around the city. Among those charges thrown out were the cases of the two people Jared Paul was walking with at the time of his arrest: Rheanna Keefe (a local Twin Cities writer and artist) and Zachary Swift (a social worker from Albany, NY.)
Congratulations Rheanna and Zach! Thanks for doing your part to defend the Bill of Rights and uphold the basic integrity of our court system by refusing to accept guilt for false charges. In addition to formally saluting your own patriotism, ConspiracyToRiot.com would like to extend the same congratulations to each one of the other 200+ RNC arrestee’s who’ve already beaten their cases as well.
We’d also like to express our deep support for the hundreds of RNC arrestees still fighting. They deserve a fair trial by a jury of their peers, where the accusations against them can be soundly proven beyond any reasonable doubt or dismissed immediately.
Based on court room outcomes of the past 4 months, conferring with dozens of lawyers currently working on related cases, and other recent information that has now come to light, the 2008 Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure (http://rnc08arrestees.wordpress.com/) expects many more cases to be thrown out during the January 2009 St. Paul Court calendar and beyond.
Jared Paul’s Contested Omnibus Pre-trial is still scheduled for February 26th. There is a strong chance his charges will be dropped before that time, but our attorney is working hard to prepare for all possible outcomes. He has been in close contact with both, Zachary’s and Rheanna’s respective lawyers, as well as multiple other RNC defense lawyers who’ve already won their cases.
Much has changed over the last four months and as time marches on it would be very easy to let this story slip through the cracks. Let’s not let that happen. Not only for Jared’s sake, but also for the sake of the 1st Amendment, the protection of independent journalism everywhere, and for the sacred right of all American citizens to legally and peaceably voice dissent.
Campaigns are currently underway to lobby Minnesota state legislators on behalf of the “RNC 8″ (organizer’s wrongfully arrested before the Convention even started and preemptively charged with “Conspiracy To Riot – In Furtherance of Terrorism under the Minnesota PATRIOT Act) and raise money for their cases, as well as for the Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure in general.
The cost of fighting these legal battles is extremely high and donations to their causes, as well as here at ConspiracyToRiot.Com, are greatly appreciated. Please continue to stay with the story as it develops and get involved:
*The RNC: http://rnc8.org/
*Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure: http://rnc08arrestees.wordpress.com/
*Coldsnap Legal Collective: http://coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com/
Sincere thanks for all your support, and Happy New Year!
Read Jared’s blog update RNC Arrest Pt 4. If you missed Jared’s first post, start here RNC 2008 Arrest Pt 1.
