Feature Archives

Eric McDavid, Zachary Jenson, and Lauren Weiner were arrested on Friday, January 13th in Auburn, California and accused of "conspiring to damage or destroy by explosive or fire" cell phone towers, power plants, and US Forest Service facilities. They are accused of being members of an Earth Liberation Front cell and are currently being held in the Sacramento County Main Jail. All three have requested prisoner support, including: letters, books, and assistance in obtaining legal counsel. Letter writers should familiarize themselves with guidelines for writing to prisoners before sending mail.

Support organizers are asking that people wait until the prisoners and their lawyers have had an opportunity to develop defense strategies before organizing any activities on their behalf other than letter writing. Lauren is lactose intolerant has requested nutritious vegan meals, but thus far has not been given enough vegan protein. She would like people to call or write the jail and request that she be given nutritious vegan meals and be given access to the commissary. She is currently in isolation and has only been allowed to leave her cell for visits and court. Zachary is vegetarian and would like people to call and/or write the jail and request that he be given vegetarian meals.

The charges that the three face currently consist of a charge of conspiracy to damage or destroy public and private infrastructure by explosives or fire- they face potential sentences of five to twenty years in prison. The charges will be more clear when the indictment (a rubber stamp from a grand jury for the government to prosecute the case) is delivered and the charges become official. Criminal complaint against the three indicates that the case is primarily based upon the testimony of a confidential informant who was paid by the FBI and "embedded" within the alleged ELF cell. According to the criminal complaint this person has been an informant in 12 other "anarchist cases" and has agreed to testify in open court.

Detention hearings have been set for Friday, January 20th for Lauren, and Tuesday, January 24th for both Eric and Zachary. These hearings will determine whether or not they will be eligible for bail. The US Attorney who is prosecuting the case, Ellen Endrizzi, has thus far tried to create the illusion that if they are bailed out, they would flee and put the public at risk. Lauren, Zachary and Eric are facing serious charges, their families and concerned supporters believe that their assertion of their rights are helping to give their cases a promising start. Read more

Portland IMC article with Advice about Snitches, Security and Suspected ELFers | Bombs and Shields article | Bombs and Shields Blog

Clarence Ray Allen, or Running Bear, as he was known to the Oklahoma Choctaws, has been executed by the state of California, just minutes after the end of his 76th birthday. Just two days before the execution date, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his decision to not grant clemency to Clarence Ray Allen. Allen's lawyers unsuccessfully petitioned the US Supreme Court to stop the execution based on the argument it would be cruel and unusual punishment because of the inmate's physical condition. Allen was blind and partially deaf, and had used a wheelchair since he had been revived after a 2005 heart attack, according to prison officials.

A day of action to protest the execution of Clarence Ray Allen was held on Monday, January 16th. The day began with a Walk for Abolition from San Francisco to San Quentin Prison. Protests were also held in Sacramento, Fresno, Palo Alto, Berkeley, San Rafael, El Cerrito, and many other cities in California. Some 500 people attended the vigil that took place at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County on Monday night. Bright Path video streamed live from the vigil for several hours. Reports from the vigil and the execution were broadcast on KPFA Radio. Photos From The VIgil

Past Indybay Coverage of the Case of Clarence Ray Allen | Wikipedia's page about Clarence Ray Allen

The manslaughter trial of State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement Agent Michael Walker for the February, 2004 killing of Rudy Cardenas was a sensation in San Jose. After a high-speed chase through downtown, Walker shot Cardenas, a father of five, in the back, in what many thought was a clear case of criminal police violence. Walker thought at the time that Cardenas was another man who was wanted for a parole violation. Law enforcement that day made a series of critically flawed decisions. The Deputy District Attorney who prosecuted Walker, Lane Liroff, became kind of a hero to activists and community members who attended the trial, but he was unable to win a conviction. The day of the verdict Rudy's daughter Regina Cardenas said she was "Completely appalled. We didn’t think [acquittal] was a possibility at all." Indybay writer-photographer Peter Maiden covered the trial after reporting on police issues in San Jose for over a year. You can read his story: Justice Denied: A History of the Walker Trial | Also see: Photos of Vigil for Rudy after the Verdict | Indybay's Previous Coverage of the trial | Past Indybay Coverage of the Cardenas Case | Coverage by Pacific News Service | Coverage from the November Coalition

A Press Conference/Rally to Stop The Execution of Clarence Ray Allen will be held on Thursday, January 12th at 4:00 PM at the California State Building at Van Ness and McAllister in San Francisco. Clarence Ray Allen’s daughter and grandson, as well as political activists from around the Bay Area, will speak out against killing Allen. They are enraged that in spite of Allen's age and poor health, the racism and flaws of the death penalty, and the pending legislation that would halt all executions in California, Clarence Ray Allen's death has been scheduled for 12:01am on January 17th.

Rally organizers point out that the state is speeding up the pace of executions following the December execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. After Clarence Ray Allen, the state plans to execute Michael Morales, and possibly several additional individuals in 2006. They see now as the ideal time to build the movement to stop executions.

The ACLU of Northern California held a Sacramento lobby day with nine California exonorees on January 10th. They are asking for people to call Assemblymembers to urge support for Assembly Bill 1121, the California Moratorium on Executions Act. It was announced this week that Governor Schwarzenegger will not hold a clemency hearing for Allen. The governor has not yet stated if he will conduct a clemency review, in which he would make a decision based on documents rather than on oral arguments.

A day of action to protest the execution of Clarence Ray Allen will be held on January 16th. The day will start with a Walk for Abolition from San Francisco to San Quentin Prison. There will be protests in Sacramento, Fresno, Palo Alto, Berkeley, San Rafael, El Cerrito, and many other cities in California. Details about these events

ACLU-NC's wepage about Clarence Ray Allen | Suggested text for clemency letters to governor | No Death Penalty for Clarence Ray Allen MySpace Page | My Grandpa- Clarence Ray Allen Blog

Brother Ace Washington "has it going on"- he has been a social justice activist in SF's Western Addition District for decades. Ace is an anchor on KPOO radio and Direct Access TV Channel 29. He videotapes hearings of the weekly SF Police Commission and Board of Supervisors for the SF.GOV Channel, and he has his own desk in City Hall's Press room, #247. He is a singer and a producer, owns his own security business, is a painting contractor, is the House Manager at the Idriss Safe Haven Collective in SF Bayview Hunters Point, and has seats on the Idriss Stelley Foundation Board of Directors and SF's African American Community Police Relations Board.

On Friday night December 30th, Ace Washington stopped at Rassala's Jazz club on Fillmore and O'Farrell to talk to a friend. One of the club's managers told him that he was not welcome there and exhorted patrons to not talk to Washington. Ace questioned this treatment and the manager stated that she was calling the police. While Ace was standing outside of Rassala's, 4 police officers apprehended him, wrestled him to the ground, threatened him with batons and forcefully applied pressure to his legs and chest. One officer twisted his fingers backward while he was handcuffed, and 8 officers sat on his neck and back, pushing on his buttock with boot and repeatedly kicking his left ankle. Once he had been arrested and forced into the police car, his fingers were twisted backward again.

Ace was released at 5:30 am on Saturday, charged with assault, resisting arrest and trespassing, although he is not aware of Rassala's having any restraining order against him. When he arrived at Idriss Safe Haven Collective late morning, Ace recounted his ordeal and showed his injuries to Mesha Monge-Irizarry: substantial swelling and knots on his left leg above the ankle which had been stomped on (broken skin), chest, wrists and fingers, inflicted while Ace was on the ground, face down. Read more of Ace's story

Maurice Campbell, ISF Board Member and Director of the Community First Coalition and David Grace from Enemy Combatant Radio got on the air with Mesha Monge-Irizarry on ECR's "SF VILLAGE VOICE" show to talk about the SFPD's assault of Ace Washington. Audio Mesha says, "Time was (of) the essence: silence kills in these PD brutalization cases, as Ace would be more at risk, considered as a potential liability for PD and the City, given his prominent activist position in our community, if he did not publicize his fate ASAP! Ace called on the show and (the audience) got to listen live his detail recount of the assault."

Ace Washington has been summoned to appear in Court at the Hall of Injustice at 850 Bryant Street in San Francisco on Thursday January 5th, 2006, at 9:00am in room #101. "Ace, On DA Case" will next be aired on Friday January 6th on KPOO 89.5fm frin 4 pm to 5:30 pm, "Ace in your Ear, Maling it Loud and Clear!" An On Da Case yahoogroup has been started by the Idriss Stelley Foundation. Talking to a Wall! by Leroy Moore.

After the December 20th reports that the FBI has been monitoring and infiltrating political organizations, the three California affiliates of the ACLU are seeking information about the intelligence gathering efforts of law enforcement agencies in this state. The Public Records Act request is being sent to Attorney General Bill Lockyer and focuses on the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center ("CATIC") and information that it may have received from the FBI. Photos and Report from Peninsula Raging Grannies

The national ACLU released FBI documents that were obtained after the group filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to find out whether the FBI’s partnerships with local law enforcement in Joint Terrorism Task Forces has resulted in increased surveillance of political and religious activity. The documents about several organizations showed the FBI expanding the definition of “domestic terrorism” to include citizens and groups that participate in lawful protests or civil disobedience.

The ACLU announced on December 21st that it is seeking records held by CATIC and the CIB (Criminal Intelligence Bureau) on the ACLU California affiliates and chapters, Greenpeace, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, United for Peace and Justice, Food not Bombs, Code Pink, UC Santa Cruz Students Against the War, Fresno State Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition, Peace Fresno, War Resisters League West, College Not Combat, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, as well as a number of police documents. Under the California Public Records Act, the agencies have 10 days to respond.

ACLU Press Release | Read the Public Records Act request | ACLU Northern California | ACLU Southern California | ACLU San Diego | SF Gate article

Clarence Ray Allen, a Choctaw Indian, will turn 76 years old on January 16, 2006, the day before the state intends to execute him on January 17th, at San Quentin. The death sentence in his case came from a conviction for ordering the 1980 murders of three witnesses to the 1974 burglary that he was convicted of committing-- while he was behind bars at Folsom State Prison. A few months ago, Mr. Allen "flatlined" (died) from a heart attack, and was resuscitated by the medical staff, so he can be executed in January. The San Quentin Correctional Facility has issued a statement that Mr. Allen, although wheelchair bound, will have to walk 15 feet to the death gurney, because the death chamber is not wheelchair accessible. Read more

Allen's attorneys have raised the following question: "Is it appropriate to execute someone who is old and infirm?" The death row population is aging, and prison conditions are not conducive to good health. There are now five condemned men in California who are over 70 and nearly three dozen in their 60s. Since California reinstated capital punishment, 31 men have died on death row of natural causes and 11 have been executed. The oldest person executed in California in the modern era was 62-year-old Donald Beardslee, who was executed in February of 2005.

The Idriss Stelley Foundation has set up a yahoogroup to build support in order to save Clarence Ray Allen, and to "allow him to die with dignity when his ancestors will call him to join them." The ISF is calling especially to Native American, disabled, and elder communities for help in saving Allen's life. Death Penalty Focus is reportedly planning statewide protests against the execution of Clarence Ray Allen for January 16th

Fact Sheet about Clarence Ray Allen | ACLU of Northern California's Death Penalty Page | Death Penalty Information Center | California's webpage about Clarence Ray Allen