Prosecution of the 1st Amendment in Boston Series: Catherine Vitale & Shannon Llewelyn (continued, Dec 8th 2024)
#1A #bospoli #ShameOnWu #PeoplesPressMA #FreeMassachusetts #SelectiveProsecution
In search of the "master list of protestors" ... Peaceful Protestors from Wu's "Enemy List" Are Still In Court (continued)
December 8, 2023 court hearing continued the pre-trial motions on the cases of Commonwealth v Catherine Vitale and Commonwealth v Shannon Llewellyn - two of the four women arrested in June of 2022 in front of Mayor Wu’s house for peaceful protesting. Below is the full recording of the 12/8/2023 hearing along with the post-hearing press conference with the defendants’ Attorney William Gens, Esq.
Next hearing for these cases (now conjoined) is scheduled for Friday, Jan 5, 2024 at 9am at the West Roxbury District (445 Arborway, Jamaica Plain). Members of the public in support of #1A are welcome to join in court.
The court challenged the Defense’s “broad” discovery request on any communications to or from Boston Police Department (BPD), Suffolk County District office and any members of the Mayor Wu’s administration regarding treatment, arrest or prosecution of the political protestors.
Attorney Gens responded with a revised request and clarification on the description of the political protests in question.
The Commonwealth’s Assistant District Attorney (ADA) brought up potential onerousness of time and personnel requirements for delivering on the above request - a curious remark considering the nature of this case and the eighteen months long prosecution process of these two peaceful protestors who appear to be selectively prosecuted with hardly any efforts or expenses spared by The Commonwealth so far.
How much have these two cases cost tax payers to date?
Who and at what point made the executive decision to criminally charge specifically these two peaceful protestors arrested on a civil ordinance matter as opposed to all four peaceful female protestors arrested together on 6/29/2022 in front of Wu’s house?
Attorney Gens submitted a large package with numerous exhibits demonstrating a wider ongoing phenomenon of very low percentage of protestor arrests resulting in actual prosecution depending on the side of the political spectrum the protests were related to.
It appears that The Commonwealth has not yet located the infamous “master list of protestors”, dubbed the “Wu’s Political Enemies List”, mentioned in the April 4, 2022 email sent from the recently retired BPD Captain Darrin Greeley (District 5) to twenty eight recipients, where Captain Greeley outlines the creative work-around the actual Ordinance 16-63 to effectively intimidate peaceful protestors with arrests instead of the Ordinance prescribed fines. (Source FOIA by Judicial Watch).
Maintaining such a “master list of protesters” is a direct contradiction to Wu’s already anti 1st amendment Ordinance 16-63. The ordinance, which was handed to protestors by the BPD explicitly stated: “Any information obtained from enforcement of this ordinance shall not be included in any database maintained by the Boston Regional Intelligence Center”.
Below is a clip from a longer video captured by the citizen journalist External Affair Porter called “Free Speech Is Not A Crime” showing first-hand how Boston Police Department’s Sgt. O’Brien at the direction of the E5 Captain Greeley per above communication is misapplying Wu’s CIVIL Ordinance 16-63 when he arrests four peaceful female protestors and threatens to arrest one of the citizen journalists on the scene, while being challenged on his basic knowledge of the MA Constitution by another citizen journalist and protestors.
Unfortunately, an average Boston resident does not know that their 1st amendment #1A protected rights are being ripped out from underneath them in the state that allegedly prides itself on its revolutionary past and boasts about the oldest Constitution in the nation. BPD appears to take no issue with being used by the mayor’s administration as executioners of the free speech in Boston.
Ask your Boston friends if they know that there are two women still on trial with criminal charges for holding protest signs and chanting on a public street in Boston 18 months ago as of December 2023, and invite them to the next hearing to witness history as it unfolds.
Next hearing is scheduled for Friday, Jan 5, 2024 at 9am. Members of the public in support of #1A are welcome to join in court at the West Roxbury District (445 Arborway, Jamaica Plain).
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The Massachusetts Constitution
The Massachusetts Constitution contains three parts: a Preamble, Part the First: A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Part the Second: The Frame of Government.
The Preamble
The Preamble announces the purposes of government; that is, furnishing the members of the body politic "the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquility, their natural rights and the blessings of life; describes the "body politic" as a "social compact" whereby all agree to be governed by laws designed for the "common good;"
provides that when government does not fulfill its obligations, "the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity, and happiness."
The Declaration of Rights
The Declaration of Rights, which was in part derived from the Bill of Rights in several other state constitutions, sets forth many individual rights which would later be included in the federal Bill of Rights. John Adams considered individual rights so integral to the formation of government that the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights precedes the Frame of Government. (Contrast this with the United States Constitution which sets forth a frame of government, to which the Bill of Rights was added two years later, after prolonged debate.) The Declaration of Rights includes prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizure, ex post facto laws, and the public taking of private property without just compensation.
Protected rights include freedom of the press, the right to petition the government, right to trial by jury, and freedom of worship …
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