RNC Arrestee Jesse James Forrey Found Guilty on Trial Yesterday
UPDATE 9PM: We are sorry to report that Forrey was found guilty yesterday by a jury. His sentencing was scheduled for September 17 at 1:30pm.
UPDATE 8/6: The jury has been out since 10:15am.
8/5: After three days of Jesse Forrey's trial, closing arguments and jury instructions will begin at 9am on Thursday in Room 1140 of the Ramsey County Courthouse at 15 W. Kellogg Boulevard in St. Paul. This will be the last chance for the jury to see the crowd of supporters which has numbered 30-45 throughout the trial thus far. Barring unusually long deliberations, the jury will likely return its verdict Thursday. To be text messaged as soon as the verdict is in, sign up for TCIMC's twitter feed by texting follow tcimc to 40404.
A big week is coming up in Ramsey County Court and momentous events are about to take place. Two of our comrades stand in jeopardy before the Ramsey County legal system. Both are young men facing felony charges. Both are from out of state, far from most of their family and friends. Both want your support in the courtroom. Our ability to provide that support is about to be tested as never before.
Jesse Forrey began trial on Monday August 3rd at 1:30 PM. Jury selection took place that afternoon. Trial will resume on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00. Then the lawyers will make their Opening Arguments and the Prosecution will begin calling witnesses. After that, the trial will continue on Wednesday morning and go for as long as necessary throughout the week.
On the same week, on Tuesday August 4th at 1:30PM, the man convicted in the 'unarrest incident' will be sentenced by Judge VanDeNorth. Since he is appealing the conviction to a higher court, we hope that the judge will stay the sentence until the appeal is complete. If he doesn't, the sentencee may be taken into custody that afternoon.
Both these young men are looking at the possibility of a year in prison if things go badly for them. As you can imagine, anxiety is running high. Your presence in the courtroom would mean a great deal to them.
Trying to pack two courtrooms on the same afternoon is a feat of organizing similar to trying to fight a war on two fronts: it requires a lot of capacity. And to make matters worse, it is the height of summer, when many people are away on vacation. So: if there is any way humanly possible, come down to the Ramsey County Courthouse in St. Paul on Tuesday afternoon. It's at the corner of Kellogg and 4th. If you have vacation days or personal days off, take half a day to come to court for someone who has stood up for himself against the oppression of the legal system and staked his freedom on a claim of innocence. If you were ever glad to have someone on your side in the ordeal of the RNC aftermath, this is the day to pay it back. If you thought it was a lonesome road, this is the day to pay it forward. If you believe in the power of court solidarity, this is the day to come down to St. Paul and put your beliefs into action.
After you pass through the metal detectors, go to Room 130 on the ground floor and look at the blue video screens for the name of the person you are supporting. Look across the line for the courtroom number. We plan to have greeters there to help direct people. The elevators are in the middle of the building behind the Spirit of Peace statue. Take one up to the courtroom you are looking for. If you're not sure who to support, go to the sentencing. This man is only here for one day and he doesn't know many people in town.
Bring as little as you can and avoid backpacks. If a lot of people show up carrying backpacks, the security people are going to start doing bag searches, and that really backs up the lines.
And count on it that if a lot of people to come to court, they will respond with a lot of sheriff's deputies in the building. Come anyway. Just be prepared.
Other court dates in August:
The RNC8 have a scheduling hearing on Wednesday August 19th at 9 AM. They are asking for a big show of community support. Even though this is just a scheduling hearing, things should start moving faster from this point on. After a long period of quiescence, this case is about to become active and prominent in the public eye. Please come support them.
There will be a rally and press conference on the plaza on the Kellogg side of the Courthouse at 8:15 AM until court starts.
On Tuesday, August 25th at 1 PM Elliot Hughes and three other people will be arraigned. Courtwatchers will be present. We're not asking for court support for this one because misdemeanor arraignment courtrooms are already crowded with large numbers of defendants.
On Monday, August 31st, at 9 AM, Karen Meisner and Christina Vana go to trial, which will probably run through the week. They would like to see court support.
Bradley Crowder will also be going to trial about the same time, but an exact date has not been set yet because the prosecutor is tied up in other trials.
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How to have a good day in court
One of the people appearing in court has asked me to remind supporters: "Please dress in court appropriate clothing that you feel comfortable in. . . . Please don't make a face, a comment, or an outburst if anything you do not agree with is said. (If the defendants can control their emotions, you can too.) Also, keep in mind that a juror, bailiff, judge, or prosecutor could be around any corner and that anything you say or do could reflect upon the defendant."
Good point about the jury: Saying or doing anything to influence the jurors will get you thrown out of court almost as fast as a ringing cellphone. (Please turn off anything that rings or beeps before you go into court.)
Outside of court, we don't talk to the jurors, we don't eat where they do, we don't say anything about the case in their hearing. Just stay away from them!
Margaret
Courtwatch
Does anybody know any further
Does anybody know any further information on the post-trial? Was Jesse taken into custody? Was he sentenced right then? If not, was a sentencing hearing scheduled? Any further information other than "Jesse Forrey was found guilty" would be awesome. Thanks so much.
No, he wasn't taken into
No, he wasn't taken into custody. The judge scheduled his sentencing for Thursday, September 17 at 1:30pm - room 1140 of the courthouse. Because of his prior record, it seems Jesse is likely to get significantly more time than the RNC arrestees who have pled guilty thus far. Needless to say, this stinks. Why do we put up with this shit?
After waiting around in Kellogg Park all day, about 30 supporters were there when the verdict came down after 6pm; there was a lot of crying and stunned silence afterwards. I pretty much could tell what was about to happen when the jury returned - a couple of them seemed to be holding back tears and the rest had faces of stone. Being the cowards they are, they never had to walk past the supporters to get out of the building - instead they were escorted out sneakily by the extra sheriff's deputies there.
Once we got kicked out of the building, we hung around outside for another half hour or so holding hands, and then went home to get back to the business of smashing the state...
not smashing
no, you are not smashing the state, haloka, you all are barely even making a dent in the police shields that protect the people who really hold the power in this society, the people living around the lakes, the corporate class. No you are nowhere near smashing the state and you wont be for another few decades even if you all were really building autonomist projects of dual power within society, but sadly you're not, so just sit quietly in the court room and mark it all down as some well meaning kids who got caught up in some really pathetic political strategy.
What will hopefully come out of all of this will be some serious reflecting on the failure of such direct action street movements, the unsustainability, the short-sightedness of it, the lack of any real long term revolutionary organizing...
I'm not just saying all of this to be a jerk, i'm just saying wait around another 10 years and see how many of your 'comrades' are teaching at university, working at law firms, investing in the...gasp...stock market...unless you really, really are the ones we've been waiting for...
I often wonder why so many
I often wonder why so many activists respond to really bad, sad news by saying "Oh, if only you'd done this differently, your friends wouldn't be in court" right when everyone is still trying to cope with bad sad part, when it obviously isn't going to change anything. Is it because this allows folks to push away the pain of things going wrong?
Whatever it is, I wish people would stop it.
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