War Protestors Go On Trial in NY
by TChris
Four protestors poured their blood over an Army recruiting center in Ithaca, New York in 2003. They hoped recruits would think about the blood -- Iraqi and American -- that they would be destined to shed if they enlisted.
The protestors were charged with felony malicious mischief. Refusing a plea bargain, they went to trial in 2004. A judge who understood the historic role that juries play as a check against the government's power allowed the protestors to explain their motivations when they testified. As a result, the jury deadlocked 8-4 for acquittal.
What should have ended as a symbolic victory for peace -- the prosecutor didn't have the stomach to try the case again after the jury hung -- instead resulted in a federal prosecution. The four Catholic Worker activists will go on trial again Monday, where they face a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
The federal prosecution is a waste of resources. One jury has already spoken, and the minor damage caused is out of proportion to the serious consequences of a federal prosecution. Is the administration "making a federal case out of it" because it wants to squelch protest?
The key quesion in the second trial is whether the judge will give the defendants the same latitude to explain their actions to the jury. He should, despite the prosecution's likely argument that the law is the law, and it doesn't matter why they chose to break it.
Juries act as the circuit-breaker between the desire of the government to punish and the actual infliction of punishment. Juries have the authority to nullify an abuse of that power. Juries play a critical function in a democracy by bringing the will of the people into the courtroom -- particularly in federal court, where judges aren't elected.
But juries can't play that role if they don't know why the defendants acted as they did. The defendant's right to tell his or her story is at the heart of the right to testify and to have a jury determine guilt. If the defendants are to have a fair trial, and if the legal system is to work in its intended manner, the protestors should be given a chance to explain their actions to the jury that considers their fate.
Better yet, the prosecutors should bow to the will of the last jury and dump this case. Surely they have more serious crimes to worry about.
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