[Peacectr_list] Verdict in State of Maine v. the Bangor Six....G

Wed Apr 30 23:08:25 UTC 2008

Thanks to Gerald Oleson for this report.

From: Geraldole at aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:50:06 EDT
Subject: Verdict in State of Maine v. the Bangor Six....G

   Six members of Maine's Civil Disobedience and Occupation Project 
went on trial at 9:00, Tuesday, April 29, 2008, at Penobscot Superior 
Court on Hammond Avenue in Bangor, Maine. The six people were charged 
with "criminal trespass" for refusing to leave the office of U.S. 
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)  and the Margaret Chase Smith Federal 
Building on Harlow Street, in Bangor, on March 7, 2007, four years 
after the U.S. led invasion of Iraq.

   The group hoped that their presence in Senator Collins' office 
would focus Senator Collins' attention on the grievances that the 
group had/has about the war in Iraq.

  Doug Rawlings was defended in court by attorney Phil Worden; 
Jonathan Kreps and Henry Braun were defended  by attorney Lynne 
Williams. Phil Worden and Lynne Williams are members of the National 
Lawyers Guild. Defendants Robert Shetterly, Dud Hendrick, and Jim 
Freeman defended themselves.

   After a day of emotional as well as well-reasoned testimony by the 
defendants, Judge Michaela Murphy adjourned for the day at 3:30.

  After a blustery, cold, and rainy Tuesday, we were greeted  on 
Wednesday with a lovely bright and clear day as the sun rose over the 
most easterly part of the United States of America.

   At 9:30 AM, Wednesday, April 30, 2008 (which also happens to be the 
91st anniversary of the  American Friends (Quaker) Service 
Committee),  twas time for closing arguments in State of Maine 
v  Douglas Rawlings, Jonathan Kreps, Henry Braun, Robert Shetterly, 
Dudley Hendrick, and James Freeman.

  After Assistant District Attorney Brendan Trainor expressed the 
state's view that the defendants were guilty of criminal trespass, 
the Bangor Six had their turn.

   Robert Shetterly talked about good people feeling compelled to act 
and to do the right thing. He quoted William Sloan Coffin  as saying 
"Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with 
consistency."

   Mr. Shetterly quoted Utah Phillips who said that the degree to 
which you resist injustice is the degree to which you are free.

   The next defendant Dud Hendrick got right into the quotation thing 
using Noam Chomsky's statement that  a functional democracy requires 
informed citizens who will act.

  He then asked the jury to "join us in our efforts."

  Mr. Hendrick that went on to say that the first Chief Justice of the 
United State John Jay in Georgia v. Brailsford, 1794, said that the 
jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in 
controversy.

    In Georgia v.Brailsford, Chief Justice Jay also said that jurors 
should/could acquit, even against the judge's instruction.  (Probably 
just as well that Dud didn't say that. If the judge felt that Dud was 
encouraging "jury nullification" he could be charged with contempt 
and sent off to the lock-up without passing GO or collecting $200.)

  Dud also quoted Martin Luther King , Jr. who said that a time comes 
that silence is betrayal and tomorrow may be too late.

Lynne Williams, the attorney for Jonathan Kreps and Henry Brann, 
asked the jury to "listen  to the defendants." "They believed that 
they were licensed and privileged" to be in the lobby of the federal 
building and the office of Senator Susan Collins on March 7, 2007 and 
therefore the defendants were NOT guilty of criminal trespass.

  She also spoke of the policies of Congressman Mike Michaud and 
former Senator George Mitchell....that they didn't arrest 
demonstrators in their offices. One probably apocryphal story about 
Senator Mitchell is that he gave demonstrators keys to his office in 
Waterville and told them to lock up when he left for the night.

   Court-house lawyer Jimmy Freeman spoke eloquently about "beyond a 
reasonable doubt" and what "beyond a reasonable doubt" really means, 
and he spoke about the obligation that he felt he had to be there on 
March 7, 2008.

Phil Worden, the attorney for Doug Rawlings, spoke next. He said that 
the "essential element" in the case was that the defendants at that 
time and place on March 7, 2008  knew that they were" licensed and 
privileged " to be at there.

So that ended the closing arguments for the defendants. Assistant 
District Attorney Trainor then spoke again.  The law is that 
regarding closing arguments  the state speaks first....and then 
speaks last in rebuttal.
   The gist of Mr. Trainor's remarks was that he felt  the defendants 
had a political mind-set that lead them to say that international 
law,eg., the Nuremberg Principles, had been broken.  I suspect that 
the reverse was true. That studying international law  and the 
Supremacy Clause of Article Six of the United States Constitution and 
learning that the United States had indeed broken international law 
lead them to the actions of March 7, 2007.

He also said that "interpreting international law lead them to break 
a domestic law."  Hmmm...I guess that's probably true in a way.

  The closing arguments having been made, Justice Murphy gave her 
instructions to the jury. 85% of the instructions were standard 
boiler plate. (You can find many examples on the internet.)

  She talked about reasonable doubt and emphasized that the defendants 
would have to be found guilty if the jury believed "that they KNEW 
they had to leave."

  The jury filed into the jury room at 11:20 AM......and they emerged 
at 1:50 PM with a verdict of NOT GUILTY for all of the defendants.

  It is hard to describe the emotions felt by those of us who watched 
the trial. And I surely can't describe how the defendants and 
their families and the lawyers felt so I am not  going to try to. The 
judge had warned us that she would not tolerate any 
displays....booing, cheering, etc., so when one of the observers gave 
a bit of a yippee hoot at hearing the verdict one of the deputies 
asked her to leave the court room.

  What a wonderful day...it makes me personally to think of Henry 
David Thoreau, Eugene Debs, Sacco and Vanzetti, the Rosenbergs. Rosa 
Parks, and Martin Luther King and all the rest. And I think of the 
work of Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, the Peace 
and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, and the weekly peace vigils 
around the state. And I think of folks like Nancy Gallant and Richard 
Stander who set the basis for the verdict today by getting arrested 
and being found "guilty of criminal trespass" on the day of the U.S. 
invasion of Iraq in 2003.  And I think of the other members of the 
Bangor 12. They have been vindicated!!!

  Free at last; thank God almighty, we are free at last....There is 
justice in our land. There is freedom in our land.

  The courage of the defendants and the attorneys in the Penobscot 
Superior Court in Bangor, Maine, on April 30, 2008, has inspired us 
all and we thank them for their efforts to save us...to save our 
country...and to save our planet.

God bless us...everyone!

Reverend Gerald Oleson
Sunny Corner Fellowship
73 1/2 Court Street
Bangor, Maine 04401
207-947-2970
-- 
The Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine
170 Park Street
Bangor ME 04401
(207) 942-9343
fax 992-2288
email: info at peacectr.org
check our website:  <http://www.peacectr.org/>www.peacectr.org
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