News has broken today that fully informed jury activist Julian Heicklen has fled the country to avoid a pending warrant out of Santa Ana, California, where he is wanted yet again for distributing educational fliers on the rights of jurors. On May 22, Julian is said to have been granted Israeli citizenship at customs. It is unclear whether the eighty year old pamphleteering pioneer plans on returning to the United States. Freedoms Phoenix has the story.
According to an attorney with the National Lawyer’s Guild on Democracy Now, Jared Chase of Keene was set up by people working for the government when he was busted at the NATO protests in Chicago a few days ago over molotov cocktails:
Michael Deutsch, an attorney for the protesters with the National Lawyers Guild, accused Chicago police of entrapment.
MICHAEL DEUTSCH: Obviously, we don’t have access to all the information that the state has. But what we do know is, is that there were police—undercover police officers that ingratiated themselves with people who come from out of town. And from our information, these so-called incendiary devices and the plans to attack police stations, attack the mayor’s office, is all coming from the mind of the police informants and are not coming from our clients, who are nonviolent protesters. They are not anarchists. They don’t belong to a Black Bloc organization. They’re involved with nonviolent protest. And what we believe is, is that this is a way to stir up prejudice against the people who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
As you may be aware, NH native liberty lover, Ladies in Keene co-host, and Free Keene blogger Kate Ager was arrested for standing on some chalk and not moving off of it fast enough upon Manchester police’s request (see her video here). Here’s the trial where another obedient jury found her guilty of “resisting arrest”:
On May 20th, 2012 I attended Social Sundays put on by the Free Keene folks and that was followed by a protest outside of the Cheshire County Jail in Keene, NH. Myself, Ian Freeman, Paul Hassler, Chris Cantwell, David Crawford and Julia all took up signs and took to opposite sides of Highway 101 to protest the prison system. We currently have two friends and civ dis fellows in the Cheshire Co Jail, sarcastically called the Keene Spiritual Retreat Center! Derrick J. Freeman is facing up to 105 days in jail for victimless crimes and Beau Davis is in for 31 days for possession of an illegal substance (another victim of the War on Drugs). We received a generally good response from folks driving by. Only one car yelled at us negatively. He called us “Fucking Commies”. That made me laugh! This person obviously knows nothing about what we or the communists stand for. His ignorance is not only contemptible but incredibly sad. I have had heated discussions with people over the War On Drugs because I find it to be a waste of money and it destroys the economy, the family and society as a whole. Decriminalize all drugs now! I also advocate for the nullification & peaceful, nonviolent civil disobedience of bad laws. Every day each one of us breaks at least three laws with zero knowledge. How can a society live this way?
Jeffrey Tucker is an author at LewRockwell.com, executive editor of Laissez Faire Books. He is past editorial vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and past editor for the institute’s website, Mises.org.