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Thursday, January 04, 2007
Rumsfeld Called to Testify in War Protesters’ Trial
Posted by Media Release
CINCINNATI—Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be a key witness in the trial of five local anti-war protesters.
Attorney William Gallagher plans to file a motion Friday in Hamilton County Municipal Court seeking to compel Rumsfeld’s testimony. The motion asks Judge David Stockdale to declare Rumsfeld a material witness and to issue a subpoena for him to appear in court to answer questions about the war in Iraq.
Gallagher and two of the defendants will be available to discuss the motion at 2 p.m. Friday in front of the Hamilton County Courthouse.
Gallagher represents seven people arrested Sept. 27, 2006, during a peaceful sit-in at the office of U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot. Refusing to leave the office unless Congressman Chabot signed the Congressional Declaration of Peace, the group was charged with criminal trespassing. Five of the protesters are scheduled for trial Jan. 22; two had their cases heard in Hamilton County Juvenile Court.
Gallagher has already issued a subpoena to Congressman Chabot. The defendants plan to present a “necessity defense,” hoping to convince a jury that they broke the law in order to save human lives and therefore should be found not guilty. In a statement issued the day of their arrest, the protesters said they were acting in order to stop a greater crime.
“We believe the war in Iraq was wrong from the start, and its continuation worsens the crime we have committed,” the statement said. “Every citizen has a responsibility to try to prevent wrongdoing by the state. So great is our responsibility to end this war that we believe we must try new ways of communicating with those in power. Our phone calls, letters, petitions and marches have so far failed to sway Congressman Chabot. We are here today in yet another effort to enlist his help in ending the war.”
During the sit-in, they read aloud the names of Iraqis and Americans who have been killed in the war, including a large number of children. Saying they want to “put the war on trial,” the protesters plan to question Rumsfeld and Congressman Chabot about the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. They also plan to present testimony by two U.S. veterans who served in Iraq, a Christian Peacemaker who volunteered in Iraq and other evidence of the death and destruction caused by U.S. policy.
The defendants scheduled for trial Jan. 22 are Ellen Dienger, Gregory Flannery, Sister Mary Evelyn Jegen, the Rev. John Rich and Barbara Wolf.
This article is a press release from some of the defendants.
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04 Jan 2007 at 07:46 pm | #
Necesiity? Good luck. Sounds like trespassing to me.
05 Jan 2007 at 09:13 am | #
Howard Lipschitz:Sounds like trespassing to me.
Right you are! Same goes for the Boston Tea Party. If only those dangerous criminals had been arrested and jailed, there might be some respect for the rule of law in this country!
If we let these renegade nuns, “free speech” newspaper editors, and other citizens - who somehow got the radical idea that they have a “moral responsibility” to challenge the war - get away with this kind of brazen disregard for authority, who knows where it might lead? If enough people started getting their message and joining in, it might even result in peace! (Shudder!)
We salute you, Howard Lipschitz - a great American in the tradition of Spiro Agnew, Lester Maddox, and Bull Connor!
Let FREE-dom ring!
05 Jan 2007 at 10:21 am | #
Not. Going. To. Happen.
Sorry, Mr. Flannery, but your “I’m Cincinnati’s Cindy Sheehan” act isn’t working.
05 Jan 2007 at 10:24 am | #
Glad to see that in the US you can get arrested for petitioning your congressional representative.
“Don’t blame Chabot. He’ll throw your ass in jail.”
06 Jan 2007 at 10:43 pm | #
Dear Ghost,
I’m no Cindy Sheehan. She lost her son. I can only imagine her pain — and admire her courage.
07 Jan 2007 at 11:32 am | #
Well said, Greg. Thank you and good luck with the case. Rest assured there are lots of people in Cincinnati and around the country who are proud of you and your co-defendants.
07 Jan 2007 at 02:38 pm | #
You are both true patriots! Unlike those chickenhawks that plunged us into a quagmire and have shredded our constitution and taken our civil liberties in the name of freedom.