Jury Education Project Needs Volunteers This Week

Subject:
Cannabis Action Network: Jury Education Update
From:
"Cannabis Action Network" <cannabisactionnetwork [at] gmail.com>
Date:
Fri, 2 Feb 2007 16:54:57 -0800
To:
can [at] cannabisactionnetwork.org

After only 2 days and 1000 flyers, our jury education efforts at the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco have already paid off!

4 people flyered from 7am to 10am yesterday and today. We reached jurors, lawyers, judges, and others. We received very supportive feedback from a public defender, a guy involved in the jury selection process, and the head of a state department to improve California's jury process.

So far, resistance has come in two forms:

A man on his way in told us "the judge" is telling everyone who works in the Federal Building the information we are distributing is inaccurate. We told him our source is the U.S. Constitution.

Homeland Security guards and Court Marshalls have asked each flyer distributor what they are passing out and why. They try to get us to admit we are flyering in regards to a particular case so they can arrest us for jury tampering. We tell them we are sponsored by the Fully Informed Jury Association and encourage them to see http://www.fija.org to answer their questions about our campaign. We often have to remind them that what we are doing is free speech protected under the First Amendment.

We will be flyering at the Courthouse every M-F until Feb. 23, and then again in March. I am in great need for volunteers every day for the next three weeks! Please let me know if you can work a shift or two, and please pass the word on to anyone who might be interested. I have attached a flyer for you to make pretty and pass out to your friends and customers.

There is a slight chance that flyer distributors could encounter trouble. In case of this, we ask you to have the lawyer's number written on your arm when you flyer. Our lawyer for this project is Laurence Lichter at Pier 5: (415) 986-5591. Thanks to Rich Lee for arranging the legal services and promising bail for any activist who is arrested for jury tampering!!

If you would like to help with this campaign but cannot attend the AM shifts in SF, there are a few other ways to contribute:

-donate BART cards (the courthouse is 2 blocks from the Civic Center stop)
-donate to Cannabis Action Network or ASA for operating expenses associated with this project
-donate cash so flyer distributors can get warm drinks and food during their shifts
-distribute flyers at other places or times
-pass this information to someone else who can contribute

Thanks and hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend!

Danielle
510.486.8083