[ image is chelsea manning in a black tank top outside on a nice day in front of some trees and a giant black flag that says, “defend j20, drop the charges.” The word defend is in caps inside a white outlined umbrella. ]
Unicorn Riot reports on a major turning point in the J20 case. In short, the State has been caught hiding evidence from the defense, as well as knowingly using doctored footage from long disgraced far-Right outfit, Project Veritas.
The United States government has officially been put “on notice” for violating the constitutional rights of anti-Trump protesters. While the second trial of people mass-arrested at an “anti-capitalist, antifascist” protest march during President Trump’s inauguration in DC began last week, hearings for other protest trial groups have also been underway.
At a trial readiness hearing today for the June 4 trial group, DC Superior Court Chief Judge Robert Morin delivered a major blow to the prosecution’s case, officially ruling that the US Attorney had illegally withheld evidence from protester defendants.
(As Chief Judge, Judge Morin oversees motions in the inauguration protest cases but has been delegating the actual trials to other DC Superior Court judges who work under him.)
A motion filed last night by the defense counsel argued that the prosecution had committed a ‘Brady‘ violation by withholding portions of a video that has already been used in two trials related to the case.
‘Brady’ refers to case law which requires the government to immediately share with the defense any exculpatory information they come across which might aid in a defendant’s case:
“UNDER WHAT IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE BRADY RULE, IT IS A VIOLATION OF A DEFENDANT’S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS FOR THE PROSECUTION TO BE AWARE OF SUCH EVIDENCE AND NOT TURN IT OVER TO THE DEFENSE.” – DEFENDING RIGHTS AND DISSENT
Several defense attorneys had previously accused the government of repeatedly failing to meet their obligations under ‘Brady’. The ‘Motions for Sanctions and Dismissal’ filed by defense counsel this week stated, in part, that,
“THE GOVERNMENT HAS ABUSED ITS POWER BY HIDING DISCOVERY FROM ALL DEFENDANTS, PURPOSEFULLY CHOOSING NOT TO DISCLOSE BRADY INFORMATION, AND CALLING INTO QUESTION THE INTEGRITY OF ALL ITS THIRD-PARTY VIDEO EVIDENCE AND PROFFERS IN OPEN COURT.” – MOTION FOR SANCTIONS AND DISMISSAL
Prosecutors Caught Withholding Evidence in J20 Case – It’s Going Down
QueerAnarchism 