Post by WaTcHeR on Jun 16, 2006 13:33:21 GMT -5
06.16.2006 - A 51-year-old Ohio woman was sentenced Friday to 60 days in jail for putting up anti-Bush posters, as another political prisoner falls prey to the fascist mindset controlling America.
Since Carol Fisher's run-in with police on Jan.28, she steadfastly maintained her innocence, saying she was manhandled by police and then railroaded by a politically corrupted judiciary.
Her attorney, Terry Gilbert agreed with his client, adding after a recent pre-sentencing hearing to question Fisher's sanity:
"In more than 30 years of practicing law, I haven't seen anything remotely like this.This is gulag stuff. Is this the kind of country you want to live in when dissidents are determined to be crazy?"
Fisher faced a maximum 3-year prison term on a felonious assault conviction, but claims she was manhandled and assaulted by police who then lied about what happened. Gilbert said Fisher refused to accept a plea bargain, insisting she did nothing wrong and leading to what her attorney and many observers called a "politically motivated kangaroo court" filled with compromised witnesses and a prejudicial judge.
And at the Friday sentencing before Judge Timothy McGinty, observers claimed the political torture and punishment continued, as one activist was thrown out of the courtroom and Fisher was told to take off her anti-Bush tee-shirt, halting the morning hearing.
Eliska Dali, a friend who remained at Fisher's side throughout the ordeal, said Fisher was told point blank by the judge to take off the tee-shirt and to "come back later with your toothbrush" if the shirt was not removed.
This ordeal was politically motivated and even today when we arrived for the sentencing hearing at 10 a.m., Judge McGinty delayed the hearing until 4 p.m., insisting Carol return to court without wearing her anti-Bush tee-shirt," said Dali.
"When we came back at 4 p.m., he let Carol wear the shirt, and tried to say his decision to send her to jail was not politically motivated but was justified because Carol supposedly disrespected law enforcement. Nothing could be farther from the truth since Carol even complied with the police and then was manhandled and assaulted any way.
"This is so totally wrong, but just another indication of how far down the road to fascism we really are in this country."
Dali said Fisher remained strong through the six-month battle with authorities over her free speech rights, adding "right to the very end" she proclaimed her innocence and refused to bow to injustice, wearing her anti-Bush tee-shirt in defiance to the judge's misguided and totalitarian demands.
Previously, Judge McGinty also displayed prejudicial and politically motivated improprieties, according to Gilbert, Fisher's attorney. According to Gilbert Judge McGinty overstepped the bounds of judicial decency when in open court he proclaimed Fisher delusional for her activism and anti-Bush statements.
In an earlier hearing, Fisher refused to submit to a court-ordered psych exam, claiming she was completely sane and it was nothing more than a harassment tactic used by Judge McGinty to get her to apologize in open court.
When Fisher refused, Judge McGinty ordered her to remain in jail and either submit to psych exam or be transferred to a mental institution for a 30-day evaluation.
"I'd be crazy to go along with the psych test," said Fisher three weeks ago , adding she finally submitted to it after spending a day in jail and not wanting to spend another 30 days in a psych ward.
And looking back on the entire Fisher story, starting with the Jan. 28 police brutality incident involving the anti-Bush posters, her case is a stark example of the fascist climate existing in America, an unsettling climate where dissidents are punished and authority figures are allowed to trample on civil rights.
As reported in the Arctic Beacon as well as being a guest on Greg Szymanski's radio show the Investigative Journal, Fisher said she was brutalized by Cleveland Heights police, charged with two counts of felony assault and held incommunicado under police custody in the hospital even after complying with orders not to post the anti- Bush signs.
"The facts show that I was willing to take the posters down as the officer requested. But I was arrested anyway. Yet the prosecution intends to distort the facts and police still promote the lie that I was arrested because I refused to comply, and attacked them," said Fisher.
"The real point here is, there need to be more posters all over the place demanding an end to the Bush Regime! The facts clear and simple: I was wrongly arrested and assaulted for putting up anti-Bush posters. I was further punished for defying them.
"What about my injuries, trauma, intimidation, a threat on my life, being labeled a crazy wildcat, held incommunicado for six hours, forced to undress in front of four male policemen, and now the loss of my job? And most of all, what about the fact that all this happened because I put up a poster calling for active opposition to the Bush Regime!"
And Fisher's run-in with authorities and subsequent illegal incarceration is just another example of the long line of cases piling up across America showing the "real live day to day" lock down on freedom of speech and the use of police as the Gestapo arm of the fascist Bush administration.
"I had set out from my house with a full agenda, to contact lots of people and get out materials about our upcoming Cleveland event to Drown Out the State of the Union address, and the call to march around the White House on Feb. 4th. My first stop was the an area known for its community of artists and progressives, where I stapled up posters for blocks and was greeted warmly by those who saw and appreciated what World Cant Wait is doing. I talked to an artist, and a Palestinian store owner who took fliers to distribute to customers.
"Next stop, to the east side. I drove down a street in Cleveland Heights, another area known for its diversity and progressive history. This street was badly in need of postering too and though i was in a big hurry, I couldn't drive on without getting up a few signs. Before long a cop called from across the street: "Ma'am! Hundred dollar fine for doing that!" Oh really, since when? Another way of keeping us from getting the word out, eh?
"But not wanting to get arrested, I said ok and put up my staple gun and walked away. But that wasn't the end of it. "Ma'am! Hundred dollar fine unless you take those posters down." He is pursuing me across the street. Damn! OK fine, I say, I will take them down (not wanting to get into a confrontation, because I have lots to do today!) But this too is not enough for the cop. He wants my ID. I say I don't have my ID. He grabs my arm. I say let go of me, I am not doing anything wrong, I will take the posters down. People are watching to see what happens, are outraged but very afraid. The cop won't let go, he clearly wants more grief from me, and he is in the spotlight. He wants people to be scared. He pushes me against a store window and next thing I know I am face down on the sidewalk with two cops on top of me, one with his knee in my back. I am trying to call out to people, to tell them what the posters are about.
"They keep pushing my face into the sidewalk. I can't breathe. I have osteoradionecrosis in my jaw, resulting from radiation treatments for cancer. My jawbone is slowly deteriorating, is very fragile, and doesn't heal well. I am 53 years old, not exactly a spring chicken. A hand comes down again to push my chin against the concrete.
"By this time there are four cops on the scene. My hands are tightly cuffed behind my back. They lift me up and shove me onto a park bench and shackle my legs. I am still calling out, telling people what this is about. One of the cops says to me, "Shut up or I will kill you!", "I am sick of this anti-Bush shit!" "You are definitely going to the psyche ward." Then somebody calls the EMS, and a fire squad shows up.
"The cop supervisor appears and puts his finger in my face: "I don't like it when people treat my men like this and if you don't obey the law you will suffer the consequences." I am lifted into the EMS truck, hands still cuffed behind my back. I ask to make a call and this is refused, but a fireman offers to make a quick call for me. If not for this, no one would have known where I was or what was happening, a fate shared by many immigrants in this country. At the hospital, I am treated as an arch-criminal. Escorted by four policemen, I shuffle into the emergency room, legs still shackled, covered with leaves and mud. I think to myself, if I was Black, I would not have made it this far. I would probably be dead by now."
Since Carol Fisher's run-in with police on Jan.28, she steadfastly maintained her innocence, saying she was manhandled by police and then railroaded by a politically corrupted judiciary.
Her attorney, Terry Gilbert agreed with his client, adding after a recent pre-sentencing hearing to question Fisher's sanity:
"In more than 30 years of practicing law, I haven't seen anything remotely like this.This is gulag stuff. Is this the kind of country you want to live in when dissidents are determined to be crazy?"
Fisher faced a maximum 3-year prison term on a felonious assault conviction, but claims she was manhandled and assaulted by police who then lied about what happened. Gilbert said Fisher refused to accept a plea bargain, insisting she did nothing wrong and leading to what her attorney and many observers called a "politically motivated kangaroo court" filled with compromised witnesses and a prejudicial judge.
And at the Friday sentencing before Judge Timothy McGinty, observers claimed the political torture and punishment continued, as one activist was thrown out of the courtroom and Fisher was told to take off her anti-Bush tee-shirt, halting the morning hearing.
Eliska Dali, a friend who remained at Fisher's side throughout the ordeal, said Fisher was told point blank by the judge to take off the tee-shirt and to "come back later with your toothbrush" if the shirt was not removed.
This ordeal was politically motivated and even today when we arrived for the sentencing hearing at 10 a.m., Judge McGinty delayed the hearing until 4 p.m., insisting Carol return to court without wearing her anti-Bush tee-shirt," said Dali.
"When we came back at 4 p.m., he let Carol wear the shirt, and tried to say his decision to send her to jail was not politically motivated but was justified because Carol supposedly disrespected law enforcement. Nothing could be farther from the truth since Carol even complied with the police and then was manhandled and assaulted any way.
"This is so totally wrong, but just another indication of how far down the road to fascism we really are in this country."
Dali said Fisher remained strong through the six-month battle with authorities over her free speech rights, adding "right to the very end" she proclaimed her innocence and refused to bow to injustice, wearing her anti-Bush tee-shirt in defiance to the judge's misguided and totalitarian demands.
Previously, Judge McGinty also displayed prejudicial and politically motivated improprieties, according to Gilbert, Fisher's attorney. According to Gilbert Judge McGinty overstepped the bounds of judicial decency when in open court he proclaimed Fisher delusional for her activism and anti-Bush statements.
In an earlier hearing, Fisher refused to submit to a court-ordered psych exam, claiming she was completely sane and it was nothing more than a harassment tactic used by Judge McGinty to get her to apologize in open court.
When Fisher refused, Judge McGinty ordered her to remain in jail and either submit to psych exam or be transferred to a mental institution for a 30-day evaluation.
"I'd be crazy to go along with the psych test," said Fisher three weeks ago , adding she finally submitted to it after spending a day in jail and not wanting to spend another 30 days in a psych ward.
And looking back on the entire Fisher story, starting with the Jan. 28 police brutality incident involving the anti-Bush posters, her case is a stark example of the fascist climate existing in America, an unsettling climate where dissidents are punished and authority figures are allowed to trample on civil rights.
As reported in the Arctic Beacon as well as being a guest on Greg Szymanski's radio show the Investigative Journal, Fisher said she was brutalized by Cleveland Heights police, charged with two counts of felony assault and held incommunicado under police custody in the hospital even after complying with orders not to post the anti- Bush signs.
"The facts show that I was willing to take the posters down as the officer requested. But I was arrested anyway. Yet the prosecution intends to distort the facts and police still promote the lie that I was arrested because I refused to comply, and attacked them," said Fisher.
"The real point here is, there need to be more posters all over the place demanding an end to the Bush Regime! The facts clear and simple: I was wrongly arrested and assaulted for putting up anti-Bush posters. I was further punished for defying them.
"What about my injuries, trauma, intimidation, a threat on my life, being labeled a crazy wildcat, held incommunicado for six hours, forced to undress in front of four male policemen, and now the loss of my job? And most of all, what about the fact that all this happened because I put up a poster calling for active opposition to the Bush Regime!"
And Fisher's run-in with authorities and subsequent illegal incarceration is just another example of the long line of cases piling up across America showing the "real live day to day" lock down on freedom of speech and the use of police as the Gestapo arm of the fascist Bush administration.
"I had set out from my house with a full agenda, to contact lots of people and get out materials about our upcoming Cleveland event to Drown Out the State of the Union address, and the call to march around the White House on Feb. 4th. My first stop was the an area known for its community of artists and progressives, where I stapled up posters for blocks and was greeted warmly by those who saw and appreciated what World Cant Wait is doing. I talked to an artist, and a Palestinian store owner who took fliers to distribute to customers.
"Next stop, to the east side. I drove down a street in Cleveland Heights, another area known for its diversity and progressive history. This street was badly in need of postering too and though i was in a big hurry, I couldn't drive on without getting up a few signs. Before long a cop called from across the street: "Ma'am! Hundred dollar fine for doing that!" Oh really, since when? Another way of keeping us from getting the word out, eh?
"But not wanting to get arrested, I said ok and put up my staple gun and walked away. But that wasn't the end of it. "Ma'am! Hundred dollar fine unless you take those posters down." He is pursuing me across the street. Damn! OK fine, I say, I will take them down (not wanting to get into a confrontation, because I have lots to do today!) But this too is not enough for the cop. He wants my ID. I say I don't have my ID. He grabs my arm. I say let go of me, I am not doing anything wrong, I will take the posters down. People are watching to see what happens, are outraged but very afraid. The cop won't let go, he clearly wants more grief from me, and he is in the spotlight. He wants people to be scared. He pushes me against a store window and next thing I know I am face down on the sidewalk with two cops on top of me, one with his knee in my back. I am trying to call out to people, to tell them what the posters are about.
"They keep pushing my face into the sidewalk. I can't breathe. I have osteoradionecrosis in my jaw, resulting from radiation treatments for cancer. My jawbone is slowly deteriorating, is very fragile, and doesn't heal well. I am 53 years old, not exactly a spring chicken. A hand comes down again to push my chin against the concrete.
"By this time there are four cops on the scene. My hands are tightly cuffed behind my back. They lift me up and shove me onto a park bench and shackle my legs. I am still calling out, telling people what this is about. One of the cops says to me, "Shut up or I will kill you!", "I am sick of this anti-Bush shit!" "You are definitely going to the psyche ward." Then somebody calls the EMS, and a fire squad shows up.
"The cop supervisor appears and puts his finger in my face: "I don't like it when people treat my men like this and if you don't obey the law you will suffer the consequences." I am lifted into the EMS truck, hands still cuffed behind my back. I ask to make a call and this is refused, but a fireman offers to make a quick call for me. If not for this, no one would have known where I was or what was happening, a fate shared by many immigrants in this country. At the hospital, I am treated as an arch-criminal. Escorted by four policemen, I shuffle into the emergency room, legs still shackled, covered with leaves and mud. I think to myself, if I was Black, I would not have made it this far. I would probably be dead by now."
