Constitution Deemed Irrelevant in Trial of “Buell Street Five”
by Chris Tate and the Buell Street Five
Five peace activists, “The Buell Street Five”, went on trial Friday September 7, 2007 in the tiny Finger Lakes village of Bath, New York. The defendants were charged with Criminal Trespass in the third degree, a misdemeanor, for refusing to leave the office of Representative Randy Kuhl on Monday, August 6, 2007. Danny Burns, Mark Scibilia-Carver, Ellen Grady, Todd Saddler, and Chris Tate represented themselves in the trial, which lasted a grueling thirteen hours on Friday. The trail was finally adjourned at around 10 p.m. that evening to reconvene at 9:30 Saturday morning. The six-member jury concluded deliberations at about 1:30 pm. They returned with a verdict of guilty.
The defendants’ report:
It was with great difficulty, in the face of many objections on the part of Assistant District Attorney Travis Barry, that we attempted to present our case, that is, our reasons for remaining and refusing to leave Congressman Kuhl’s office on August 6th. On that day we were simply looking for a response from the congressman to our concerns regarding the illegal and unjust war in Iraq. Our motivations in conscience, faith, and the law, which compelled us to take the actions we did, were deemed to be irrelevant to the court. The Constitution of the United States, the UN Charter, The Nuremberg Principles, The Gospel of Christ, and the Golden Rule were all also ruled irrelevant by Judge Chauncey Watches, though the Constitution in and of itself guarantees us ” the right to petition or Government for a redress of grievances”.
The members of the six-person jury were moved by our defense to the degree we were able to present it, but in the end they felt constrained to return a “guilty” verdict. One of the jurors commented after the trial that they all would have liked to acquit us, and that they wished the Constitution and laws we invoked in our defense had been allowed as evidence, so that they could have deliberated with them as facts. The same juror said that they all want the war to end, and personally encouraged us to keep demonstrating.
We went to Representative Kuhl’s office because the war on Iraq has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and over 4,000 members of the coalition force and continues to take more lives everyday. In addition to the nearly unimaginable toll in Iraq, the costs of the war have also come home. Budgets for desperately needed community services have been cut in every community. Money has gone for the war instead of schools and healthcare. Many veterans have come home unwell and unable to access the help they need. As citizens of a democracy, it is our legal and moral responsibility to do everything we can to stop the crimes of our government.
Our frustrating trial gave us greater empathy with the thousands of Americans who each year experience the injustice of the criminal justice system. We recognize that our experience was probably typical of most trials in that the right of the accused to a fair trial receives low priority. We plan to appeal in an attempt the hold the justice system more accountable.
We are required to return to court on November 28, 2007 for sentencing. Any sentence we receive will be minor compared the suffering experienced by the Iraqi people and the troops sent there, often unwillingly, to fight an unjust, illegal war. No matter what happens, we know that peace is possible, and we will continue to act for peace and justice.
Filed under: Politics on September 15th, 2007
So much of it comes down to the judge in a case like this, he told the jury that the motives are irrelevant, what was on trial was the actions. The people refused to leave therefore they were trespassing. The jury doesn’t actually have to listen to the judge they can deem the person innocent based on the motives, but that takes several strong jurors willing to argue the merits against the rest of the jury. Unfortunately it seems like anyone smart enough and passionate enough to pull that off would be removed during jury selection.
Or in the words of Mark Twain
We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don’t know anything and can’t read.