[Seattle-editorial] articles...LEIU Hearings

[sheelanagig at juno.com]

More stuff still relevant to Seattle ~ This was in the last issue of
ETS!, 2 weeks ago (http://www.eatthestate.org/07-26/LEIUTrials.htm) -
kirsten

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<P>The LEIU Trials
<BR>by Kirsten Anderberg Copyright 2003

<P>On August 28, several protesters charged with crimes from the LEIU
(Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit) protests in Seattle on June 2, 2003
attended a court hearing at the King County Jail. Attorneys Larry Hildes
and Paul Richmond represented the protesters/defendants in Judge Ron A.
Mamiya's courtroom. Court proceedings went on as usual, but outside in
the halls, approximately 40 protesters sat, talked, and waited to be
heard. When it was time for the LEIU cases, the audience seating filled
with anarchist activists, peace protesters, parents of the accused,
college students from Olympia, and more, all showing support for LEIU
protesters.

<P>Hildes explained to the judge that his clients had their video
cameras, videotapes, personal identification, student identification,
credit cards, and phone cards taken from them by police on June 2 and
they would like their things back. (Outside, after the hearing, one
defendant said the police also took his ice cream card, which is one cone
away from a free cone...) The judge said that Hildes needed to talk to
the prosecutor about the missing items. So, he turned to the prosecutor,
and asked for the defendants' things back. The prosecutor argued that
some of those items might be held as evidence.

<P>Some protesters in the seating area in the front row began to hold 8
1/2" x 11" pieces of paper with words like "Police Accountability" on
them, up to the window so the judge, prosecutor and others inside the
courtroom could see them. The judge ordered the signs be put down. Hildes
said to the judge that at the last hearing, the judge said they could
have signs. The judge said he would not let anyone make a circus out of
the court, and said he would not allow the defendants' support or
attorneys to "badger" him or "anyone else." He then said "I will respect
you if you respect the system, otherwise you're out the door." Hildes
asserted that no one was disrupting anything. The judge said he would not
talk about it. Signs went down, court business continued on.

<P>Later outside, Hildes said he was requesting intelligence files, and
videos taken by governmental agencies during the LEIU protests, as well
as records from the Seattle Police Department (SPD), Washington State
Patrol, King County Sheriff's Department, the LEIU itself, and many
smaller police departments such as Tukwila and Redmond...all of whom
participated in the LEIU protests. Hildes also has requested the "use of
force reports" from the SPD, which are required to have been filed when
that type of weaponry is used in streets on citizenry.

<P>Jarrod, one of the accused LEIU protesters, is said to have charged
police with his front, yet it was the back of his shirt that was drenched
in pepper spray. Attorney Paul Richmond collected the litter left behind
in the streets after police attacked protesters on June 2. He found
remnants of what look like "Stinger" grenades and rounds, little metal
grenades with pellets inside that sting people. He found the tubes left
from what appear to be concussion grenades; he also picked up a few
unexploded Co2 pellets.

<P>Police have said protesters threw bottles and ball bearings to provoke
this riotous police attack, but Richmond could not find any ball bearings
or glass in the street. What he did find was deposits, casings, pellets,
and remnants of chemical/tactical weapons that could kill a small child
or dog if picked up and eaten.

<P><B>Note: Do not let pets or children touch little red pellets on
Seattle streets after riots</B>, they may be unexploded chemical weapons,
left behind by careless police.

<P>The trial date set for protest defendants is November 18.


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