Santa Cruz Eleven Scapegoat Special--the Final Chapter...or A Week of Whiplash?

One Attorney's Brief Brings Down D.A. Bob Lee's House of Cards


D.A. Misconduct
On Friday, Attorney Alexis Briggs, the most active of all the S.C. 11 attorneys recently, pressed her motion to dismiss charges against one of the seven--Cameron Laurendau.

Briggs charged and documented misconduct, delay, and falsehoods by district attorney Rebekah Young regarding the inappropriate presence of officers in court, not informing defense of court dates and judge-shopping.

Most significant--Briggs accused Young repeatedly denying the defense important evidence in spite of repeated requests, something affirmed by the other five attorneys in court as well.


Burdick Finally Takes Action
Initially inclined to dismiss Brigg's motion , Judge Burdick grew more and more disturbed at the mounting evidence and evasive or convoluted replies of Young. He finally ordered a Hearing to Show Cause why ALL cases shouldn't be dismissed prior to the scheduled Preliminary Hearing on August 20th.

He rejected rescheduling the Preliminary Hearing to a later time, which put a burden on defense attorneys who now have to prepare both for (a) the Hearing to Dismiss and (b) the longer Preliminary Hearing previously scheduled.

However, since Burdick has also ordered Young to produce the missing discovery, it may be that he will dismiss all the cases if she doesn't or postpone them to give time for the defense attorneys to examine the new evidence if she does cough it up.


Uncertain Monday Outcome
In either case, there's likely to be no Preliminary Hearing beginning Monday morning as scheduled. It is still possible, though highly unlikely, that Burdick will order the Preliminary to proceed--with seven attorneys facing one highly outclassed Assistant D.A. trying to front for cooked-up bankster-backed charges.

It should still be exciting and eye-opening on Monday to see Young and her boss Bob Lee confronted by a judge. It's unlikely Burdick will actually sanction (punish) either Lee or Young for this six-month merry-go-round dragging innocent people into court for peaceful protest as a political gesture to reactionaries in the community who which to crush Occupy.

Throughout all this time, of course, Wells Fargo Bank, has been continuing business as usual with protest muted or absent. Perhaps that will change if these charges are dropped.

The Friday August 17th hearing is described at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/17/18719744.php


The August 24th Gary Johnson Hearing
Still pending: Gary Johnson's 8:30 AM appearance in Courtroom 2 on Friday August 24 to serve the rest of his 6 month jail sentence for "criminal sleep" in front of the courthouse 2 years ago with PeaceCamp 2010. See http://peacecamp2010insider.blogspot.com/ for Gary's blog on the subject.

Folks can put money on his books if he's ordered to jail as is likely. He's a vegetarian--perhaps a vegan, and needs $25 a week to buy food there from the commissary, as I understand it.


Another Persecution Needs Community Support
Linda Lemaster is seeking funds to enable her attorney Jonathan Gettleman to take a writ to District Court to challenge the constitutionality of deputies and prosecutors using the "anti-lodging" law to crush political protest.

Linda covered the broader SleepCrime prosecutions against PeaceCamp2010 at http://www.thestreetspirit.org/arrested-for-%E2%80%98sleepcrimes%E2%80%99-at-peace-camp-in-santa-cruz/ .

Her current legal fight is chronicled at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/06/11/18715182.php ("Appeals Judge Upholds Anti-Homeless "Lodging" Law Against "Lighthouse" Linda Lemaster").