Tues. Update and Support Richard Brown in Court on Wednesday

Update for Tuesday, August 7th

Only 2 brothers in court again!

Court opened with all defense lawyers arguing
that all defendants be present for all legal
proceedings. The Attorney General argued that
there was no legal requirement given that bail
motions were not about legal evidence, rather are
about individuals addressing individual bail
issues. Judge Moscone ruled that because of a
“lack of furniture” to accommodate all eight
defendants and because he basically agreed that
there were no mutual issues and that counsel
representing the absent defendants were present,
that only Ray Boudreaux and Richard O’Neal would
attend today’s (and Monday’s) bail hearings.
Strenuous objections were made by the defense attorneys.

James Bustamante, Richard O’Neal’s attorney
presented arguments in favor of a reasonable and
attainable bail. He, like Michael Burt, Ray’s
attorney, argued that the only evidence linking
Richard to the case were statements made by Ruben
Scott whose testimony was proven to be perjurious
by 2 courts in the past, who recanted cooperative
testimony by explaining that he was tortured in
New Orleans in 1973 along with other Black
activists, and who was given complete immunity by
a 2004 grand jury in San Francisco for any role
he might have played in 1971 connecting him to
the death of a SF Police Officer at the Ingleside
Station – this in exchange for further cooperative statements.

This key government witness and other matters in
evidence are consistently being challenged – and
this is why other attorneys want the brothers to be in court.

Extensive statements were submitted regarding
Richard O’Neal’s ties to work, community and
family. Many members of his family and friends
were present. Testimony was given by a long-time
friend, Fannie Sanders, who has known Richard
since childhood. Despite being challenged by the
Attorney General, Fannie was eloquent and
unflappable in her attesting to Richard O’Neal’s
important role in the community and to his family.

Similar testimony had been heard last month and
this week for Ray Boudreaux. Today’s hearing
included the State prosecutor’s argument to
increase bail for Ray from $3 million to $5 million.

The crux of the State’s arguments and case about bail rests on:
* statements made by and hearsay attributed
to Ruben Scott by police investigators
* the creating of a perception of their
danger to the community if released which remains unsubstantiated
* government statements about DNA – reports
have never materialized from recent samples that
tie any of the brothers to any forensic evidence
– the state has never produced any test results
(from tests done over a year ago), creating the
impression that the results are exculpatory

Arguments made by the State Attorney General
claim that the main activities of the eight men
was to be part of a “gang” that conspired to
attack police officers and that the nature of the
government’s allegations were sufficient to deny
attainable bail. No arguments were made to
support claims that Ray Boudreaux or Richard
O’Neal would be flights risks, no substantial
arguments were made to support innuendo that they
are a danger to the community today.

The most egregious argument of the prosecutor
likened this case to the recent old-case
prosecutions of crimes against Black communities
and civil rights leaders in the South. Prosecutor
Dave Druliner stated that they (the prosecutors)
were just like the guys prosecuting these civil
rights cases. But Ray Boudreaux’s attorney,
Michael Burt, sharply rebutted such claims by
clearly contradicting these claims explaining
that the difference in these Southern cases was
that these prosecutions were prevented by
institutional racism – by prosecutors’ refusal to
pursue white supremacists who targeted Blacks.
“Institutional racism didn’t prevent this (the SF
8) prosecution for 35 years…what has changed is
not the evidence but the will to proceed,” said
Burt. The FBI has been “dogging all these men
with hundreds of agents, pursuing this conspiracy
in the hopes that somebody would turn, and they
haven’t.” (and not to speak of COINTELPRO's
targeting of the Black liberation movement and its activists)

Michael Burt concluded that the case raises
issues of unjustified delays because the State
prosecutors have proffered no new evidence, and
are relying mainly on statements by and
attributed to Ruben Scott who is not only a
victim of torture himself, but has offered
contradictory and false statements for years to
prosecutors and now serves their purposes once more.

Judge Moscone has yet to make any decisions
regarding bail, and arguments resume Wednesday
for bail reduction for Richard Brown.



_______________________________________________
Please support these brothers by sending a donation. Make checks payable to
CDHR/Agape and mail to the address below or donate on line:

http://www.freethesf8.org/donate.html

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR)
PO Box 90221
Pasadena, CA 91109
(415) 226-1120
FreetheSF8 [at] riseup.net