Oral argument today at 2 pm in NATO5 case- challenging Terrorism Counts against 3 defendants

[Fire Walk With Me]

Peoples Law Office ‏@PeoplesLawChi

Oral argument today at 2 pm in #NATO5 case- challenging Terrorism Counts against 3 defendants: http://bit.ly/YEh0Yw


http://peopleslawoffice.com/lawyers-for-the-nato-3-to-argue-challenge-to-terrorism-counts/

Today, March 19, 2013, lawyers for the NATO 3 will argue their motion to dismiss the state terrorism charges filed against their clients Brian Jacob Church, Jared Chase, and Brent Betterly. The motion, which was filed in January, challenges the statutory definitions of “terrorism” as being unconstitutionally vague and as impermissibly restricting lawful conduct protected by the First Amendment.

The definition of terrorism used in the Illinois statute, “an intent to coerce or intimidate a significant portion of the civilian population,” does not require an element of force or violence, nor does it limit its application to illegal conduct. Furthermore, the statute fails to define a “significant portion of the civilian population” and lacks standards for defining other terms such as “coerce” and “intimidate.” For these reasons, the statute fails to provide constitutionally sufficient notice to those facing potential criminal charges.

The vagueness of the statute also allows for the arbitrary and politically motivated use of the statute by police and prosecutors, exemplified by the charging of Betterly, Church, and Chase on the eve of major anti-NATO demonstrations last May. Though the terrorism statute was passed following September 11, 2001, the challenged sections had never been used until Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez charged the NATO 3 with material support for terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism and issued an accompanying press release alleging sensationalist plots by the young activists—none of which ever occurred.

The NATO 3 lawyers will be available to answer questions after the court appearance.

(Legal documents are linked at this page.)

[sabrina 1]

1. More Orwellian garbage in the cause of the fictional GWOT!

So these 'laws' have never been used against actual terrorists, only against protesters? Now we are seeing in reality what everyone feared when these draconian reactions to 9/11 were allowed to be passed into law. Using them for political purposes. This is a very dangerous time in our history.