Charges against protesters dropped

[orleans]

Source: Naperville Sun

WHEATON -- Charges have been dropped against two anti-war protesters who believed they were being prosecuted for their political beliefs.

Sarah Hartfield, 46, of Naperville and Jeff Zurawski, 41, of Downers Grove were joined by about 50 supporters in court Wednesday.

With the trial slated to begin at 1:30 p.m., prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges when the state's complaining witness did not appear by 2 p.m.

snip

The two hung a banner that read "Impeach Bush and Cheney - LIARS" alongside an upside-down American flag.



Read more: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1118772,6_1_NA21_PROTEST_S1.article

[orleans]

1. here is a comment written on the paper's website from someone who was at the court house

I attended this show trial yesterday and salute Sarah, Jeff and their pro bono attorneys for standing up on all our behalf to despicable intimidation by Joe Birkett for solely political reasons. The charges were clearly bogus from the start.

No objects can be thrown from an expressway pedestrian crossover when it is fully screened in to prevent that happening. If you are such an easily distracted driver when using our expressways that when you see something above your heads on a pedestrian crossway, then you have no business risking others’ lives and should stop driving. There are all kinds of billboards, signs, and advertising that can also distract a driver. Suppose a driver is hungry and sees a sign for McDonalds or the name of our governor and hates him, does that mean those signs will cause an accident?

Without understanding the facts, some still insist on defending a state's attorney who trumps up charges, arrests Scott and Sarah in their homes and purposely drags out the case for 15 months when he knew there was no case that could bring a conviction. He knew that his witness was not going to show up, probably months or even a year before this case came to trial and only wanted to scare these two brave citizens into cowering before his power. They didn't. And I am so proud of both of them and their pro bono attorneys.

To show you how either totally unprofessional or sick our state's attorney is, let me tell you what I witnessed yesterday. We assembled at 9:30 AM only to be told that we had to wait until 1:30 AM. At 1:30 AM the young attorney representing her boss, had to pretend that she needed more time to "try" and locate the witness. The only way out the prosecution had, was to blame the witness instead of taking responsibility for their despicable misdemeanor charges.

Maybe that explains why there is such a high turnover rate of attorneys at Birkett's office. They can't stomach his tactics and tarnishing of the rule of law any more than the gallery of citizens who packed the courtroom.

[bean fidhleir]

2. The author of that letter is unclear on the concept

The prosecutor got what he really wanted: press, and to intimidate people. The demonstrators didn't (nor, I bet, did they get their costs).

[pleah]

3. K&R I am so glad they didn't back down and congratulations to them.

:woohoo: