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Letter from Community Groups to Miami State Attorney Calling for Dropping the Charges!
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May 4, 2004
Katherine Fernandez Rundle
Office of the State Attorney
E.R. Graham Building
1350 N.W. 12th Avenue
Miami, Florida 33136-2111
Dear Ms. Rundle:
We are writing you to ask
that you immediately drop all remaining cases against those who were
criminally charged as a result of arrests stemming from the November
2003 FTAA protests.
Much has happened since these arrests were
made to bring to light the nature of the charges. After the lawsuit Lake
Worth Global Justice Group v. City of Miami was filed, the City of
Miami has repealed the unconstitutional ordinance that it used to
unlawfully arrest hundreds of people with charges such as “unlawful
assembly,” “failure to obey a police order,” and “failure to disperse.”
Testimony
by police officers has indicated that with the jail solidarity protest
that occurred on November 21, 2003, near the Dade County Jail, the
initial dispersal order was illegal (breaking up a peaceful First
Amendment gathering). If any criminal prosecution is warranted, it is
with respect to the police officers that pepper-sprayed persons at
point-blank range that day.
Out of over 280 arrests, and over 200
persons who were formally charged, approximately 155 cases have been
resolved, with not one trial conviction of an FTAA defendant. The
groundless nature of the charges is clear. There is no reason to
continue inconveniencing citizens who are forced to travel cross-country
to attend FTAA-related court proceedings and waste precious taxpayer
dollars to do so.
We urge you once more, on behalf of all of the
organizations below, some of whom organized peaceful gatherings November
20-21, 2004, and whose members were met with rubber bullets, tear gas,
taser shields, abusive jailings and wrongful arrest, to immediately drop
the charges against ALL remaining FTAA defendants.
Very truly yours,
Mary Nesbit, Root Cause & Low Income Families Fighting Together
Francisca Cortez and Julia Perkins, Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Donna Scopper, Senior Minister, Coral Gables Congregational Church
Larry Winawer, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans
Clay Keiser, Defense Attorney for several FTAA defendants
Naomi Archer, Save Our Civil Liberties |
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