News Aug 8, 2012 at 4:00 am

Federal Prosecutors in Seattle Are Dragging Activists into Grand Juries, Citing Their Social Circles and Anarchist Reading Materials

ROBERT ULLMAN

Comments

1
Wouldn't it be great if, instead of spending so much zealous energy pursuing people who may or may not be plotting the next breaking of store windows, the FBI directed that energy into, I don't know, people affiliated with hate groups who may or not be plotting to walk into a temple and murder a bunch of people?
2
Interesting article about this same case from local paper Tides of Flame, "Hunting Witches in the Pacific Northwest: On the Grand Jury Targeting Anarchists":
http://tidesofflame.wordpress.com
3
One from Rolling Stone "How FBI Entrapment Is Inventing 'Terrorists' - and Letting Bad Guys Off the Hook": http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blo…
4
Someone is keeping up a website for organizing Grand Jury resistance at:
http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.c…
5
Someone is keeping up a website for organizing Grand Jury resistance at:
http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.c…
6
Also there is saynothing.info
7
no judges in a grand jury dawg I THOUGHT U WERE A JOURNALIST
8
But grand juries are secret, so it's difficult to know what the judge and the prosecutor are really doing.

There is no judge in a Grand Jury.

Rookie mistake, Kiley.
9
@Deckard....

Sorry, but there is a judge that oversees the proceedings.

There is a grand jury that hears evidence and testimony. According to the law, the purpose of a grand jury is to decide whether or not to indict someone/people for a crime. However, this is a fishing expedition: looks like the DA is only interested in starting a witch hunt.
10
Sorry, but a Judge does NOT "oversee the proceedings".

Prosecutors schedules the witnesses and the testimony a Grand Jury hears. The prosecutor decides who they ask the Grand Jury to indict. The prosecutor issues subpoenas on behalf of the Grand Jury. A judge is not involved in any of this.

As far as a fishing expedition, there WAS a crime (the destruction of Govt Property). Now there is an investigation. Sounds legit to me.

Ms. Plant is not cooperating with the Grand Jury in their efforts to bring the guilty parties to justice.

If everyone did what she is doing, we would have anarchy.

But that is the whole point, isn't it?

11
Power and support to Ms. Plante and all other activists being dragged before this mummer's farce of a jury. I am not naive enough to believe this kind of political suppression is an exception in this country, but come on, we gotta fight this type of harrassment/aggression tooth and nail. Black clothing, sticks, masks, and anti government literature? Jay-sus! Thankfully that is easily filled by everyone I know.
12
A group put on a show destroying property, the authorities investigate and a self-identified member of that group is asked to testify. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

There doesn't seem to be too much to report here beyond the tired old "Middle Class White Girl Slums It for a Few Years" scenario. Five'll get you ten she's driving her kids to soccer practice in about 10 years.
13
@ 12, I hope you know that "anarchism" isn't an organized group or some sort of club with a membership card. It's a political ideology among other things. Suggesting that they are a self identified member of a group because they are an anarchist is like saying that someone is a member of the Westboro Baptist Church because they believe in god. Sure, it's possible, but one doesn't always mean the other.
14
Anarchism is the new communism, and SPD staff seemingly can't stop thinking about it.

I recently asked a cop who was directing traffic and allowing large group of disorderly people cross the street against the traffic signal why this was allowed, but if they had been part of a political demonstration, their pedestrian interference would be met with batons and pepper spray. Instead of answering my question, he asked if I was an anarchist.

In a sworn declaration in support of subpoena duces tecum submitted to KOMO-TV, KING-TV, KIRO-TV, KCPQ-TV, the Seattle Times, and the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Detective Rik H. Hall #6154 of Seattle Police Department claimed under penalty of perjury to have attended "training regarding anarchism" during his assignment as detective. However, after I submitted a public records request for "all schedules, attendance records, printed or electronic training materials (handouts, manuals, videos presented or recorded, etc.) for all training attended by Seattle Police Department staff during the past five years regarding specific political ideologies" including but not limited to the training Mr. Hall claims to have received, SPD's public records unit responded that they could find no such records.
15
@13: The Anarchism we witnessed on 5/1 was spontaneous? Of course those participating in riots don't represent all Anarchists and not all anarchists are part of a movement, but it's clear there is some organization and planning afoot, no?
16
@10 - The grand jury should not be used to gather evidence. The point is supposed to be to try to get an indictment.

A crime was committed, yes, but that doesn't mean this isn't a fishing expedition.

Seems like the grand jury has become a way for the authorities to force people to sit through an interview, a subpoena being harder to get out of than just walking out of a police station. It's not only a waste of resources, but a sneaky abuse of the intent of grand juries.
17
Grand Juries seem to be perfectly justifiable ... when going after fringe religious cults who fake kid nap children.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

But to use them against protesters ... OMG POLICE STATE!!!
18
@17 - Based on the phrase "grand jury investigation"? In that situation, it doesn't sound like they brought those involved into the grand jury without evidence already in place. In the case of the protesters, it sure sounds like all they've got on this woman is the people she knows and the books she reads. Anyway, just because it's been used before is no justification for the tactic now. All that says is that this has been a shitty tactic for a long time.

I suspect that when she's called back again, they won't charge her with contempt of court. I'm no legal expert, but that sure sounds like grounds for a fourth and fifth amendment challenge... and maybe even first, if you can demonstrate that her personal associations were used as "evidence" against her.
19
Grands juries appear to be a-ok when going after religious cults who fake kidnap their own children.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

But Grand Juries are not ok when it comes to going after neo anarchists who want to shield their friends from the crimes they commit.
20
Must be some cache problem with my PC, never saw my post.
21
It's all political persecution. Banksters can bring down the whole economy in the course of massive intentional frauds, and the government gives them a trillion plus in bail outs and nobody goes to jail. But let some vegan, bike riding kid in a black hoodie break a window and they send out paramilitaries with machine guns, battering rams, flash grenades and subpoenas looking for "anarchist literature". Birth control and divorce were anarchist ideas. People went to jail for those, too. First amendment? What first amendment? It is the triumph of the C and D students. Nobody smarter than that would want any part of it.
22
Criminals very often lie about their crimes. I am glad to see that they are taking the attempts to cause a riot and the damage to my city seriously. Anyone involved should go to jail for a not insignificant time.

Fuck these guys.
23
@22 -- I can guaranfuckingtee that you, too, are a criminal.

Have a nice day.

24
Plante must love jail. Works for me.
25
@14

To be fair, Phil, that is exactly the sort of question that an anarchist deeply invested in delegitimizing The Police would ask.

And anyone who's read any three of your comments on SLOG knows that you yourself will support any effort to deligitimize The Cops, and have never written a single word to suggest that you regard any form of policing at all to be legitimate.
26
@25: Robobslave wrote, "that is exactly the sort of question that an anarchist deeply invested in delegitimizing The Police would ask" Typical response. My reasoning for asking is irrelevant, and my political ideology is none of that cop's business. Seconds later, the same cop lied to me about the legality of recording him there on the street.

I regard policing to be necessary at this time. I think the adjustments necessary for our society to go without them will not happen in our lifetimes, if ever. I think our police need to do their jobs in an ethical and constitutional manner. I think when they make mistakes or engage in wilful misconduct, their actions cause more harm than those of people in other professions, and thus that they need extra scrutiny.

I do not wish to deligitimize police. I wish for police to be held accountable for their actions. I want the SPOG to stop terrorizing us. I want the public to stop paying Rich O'Neil's salary. I want SPD staff to stop hiding their actions and to stop withholding public records from the public. I insist that police do their jobs in an ethical and constitutional manner.
27
Police state. I hope someone saves us.
28
Until I see a conviction at trial of leaders of organized "anarchist" property destruction I will continue to believe that this is just the next step in the agent provocateur policy implemented by the police and the FBI to make scary boogie men out of people like the young women who is the subject of this article when the organized dirty deeds are actually being done by the arms of the government.

They don't have convictions because the ring leaders of the most disturbing acts are on a government payroll. We'll see - maybe this escalation in jack boot thug behavior will incite some violence that isn't planned and perpetrated by law enforcement employees or hirelings.

I agree with the other poster. Maybe if the feds local police in this country were monitoring right wing gun nuts instead of young free food advocates, those people in the theater in Colorado and the Sikh temple wouldn't be dead right now.
29
@26

I dunno, Phil. If "my political ideology" is something that involves, say "people who wear turbans don't deserve to live," then is that not something a community should be concerned about?

If my community happens to be one that considers policing to be fundamentally, morally legitimate, and your ideology rejects the fundamental, moral legitimacy of policing, then why wouldn't that be a concern for the community, and for the police that embody an essential moral tenet of that community?

If "my political ideology" dictates that "there should be no Police", and if the community I live in does, perversely, want to be regulated by an egalitarian, organized system of justice and a cadre of All Bastard Cops to enforce it, well, then, why wouldn't my ideology be very relevant indeed, in interactions with the police?

You say you consider a police force "necessary at this time," Phil. But do you consider it legitimate? Could the sort of society you'd prefer to live in ever include a legitimate police force?
30
@16 If the grand jury can't "gather evidence", how can they decide if an indictment is warranted?

Evidence is testimony. Evidence is documents. If the grand jury has no authority to compel witnesses to appear or subpoena documents, how can they come to a decision?

The Grand Jury has the ulitimate say. If the jurors think the prosecution is behaving inappropriately, they can just shut the investigation down. No more witnesses, no more subpoenas and certainly no indictment.

The people have the power. All you anarchists should rejoice.
31
Phil, in 14 you say "Anarchism is the new Communism". In saying that I thought you were implying that it's the new bogie man (i.e. Red Scare). But when you say something like "I regard policing to be necessary at this time" it sounds similar to the language Communists used, how capitalism was an evil but necessary step in the inevitable march toward the Communist utopia. In that respect it sounds like Anarchism is the new Communism. Are all Anarchists created equal, but some are more equal than others?

#28 is hilarious. All that destruction was an inside job. No doubt all that black clothing was taken from the SWAT guys when they weren't looking. Hey cracked, who perpetrated 9/11?
32
How about a SLOG poll to see just how many of us would meet the requirements of the warrant? Personally, I could make the list 4 times over.
33
@23 If I was I would probably lie about it.

@28 Can we do both? Fuck gun nuts who think they can endanger or harm others for their stupid causes and fuck anarchists who think they can do the same for theirs.

But the main problem with your theory is that no one with half a brain thinks that this movement is going anywhere because anarchism is far too silly for that. But that does not mean that small numbers of people cannot hurt others, and the role of the cops is to stop that.
34
@29: I wish we did not need peacekeepers or people to enforce our public policies, but I think we do need them. I insist that they do their jobs in an ethical and constitutional manner. When they violate the law, we should take their violations more seriously than we would when a similar act is committed by someone whose job does *not* involve enforcing policy at gunpoint or by someone whose job does *not* result in him or her receiving the benefit of the doubt when conflicts arise.

Our police are our most dangerous public servants. They deserve extra scrutiny. When they attempt to hide their actions from us, we should pay even closer attention.
35
@29: I wish we did not need peacekeepers or people to enforce our public policies, but I think we do need them, and that we likely will for at least as long as I'm alive. I insist that they do their jobs in an ethical and constitutional manner. When they violate the law, we should take their violations more seriously than we would when a similar act is committed by someone whose job does *not* involve enforcing policy at gunpoint or by someone whose job does *not* result in him or her receiving the benefit of the doubt when conflicts arise.

Our police are our most dangerous public servants. They deserve extra scrutiny. When they attempt to hide their actions from us, we should pay even closer attention.
36
@33 I think you missed my point. The nature of "anarchist" violent incidents over the years continues to point to incitement by agents provocateurs, undercover operatives of one kind or another. We never see any serious arrests or convictions of any kind of leaders or organizers.

The "anarchist" violence is a convenient method of making any anti-establishment demonstrations of any kind look scary to the mainstream. Instead of reporting a march with union and parent groups, say, the media can report dramtic violence by mysterious individuals using surprisingly great footage.

This grand jury harassment shtick is just another version of the mass arrests for obstruction law enforcement has done in the past. Part of the show.
37
Well, we sure need police if you expect someone to go confront every "group of disorderly people" crossing a street against a traffic signal.

Were you hoping to goad him into slugging a girl on camera? Did it occur to you that the officer decided that their actions didn't pose a risk and one cop trying to confront a "group of disordely people" for jaywalking would just run the risk of escalating things beyond what a single cop could contain?

Meanwhile, an organize march is likely to be seeking to obstruct traffic, rather than get across the street, creating an ongoing situation, and there is likely to be more than one cop present.
38
Some of you miss the point a out the subpoena: the types of items listed to collect in the subpoena are not the probable cause that justifies the subpoena.

There may have been weak or trumped up probable cause in this case, and the items in the subpoena may have been generally worthless as evidence, but it doesn't mean the police have a blank check to search random houses for anarchist literature. It means some prosecutor convinced a judge to sign a search warrant for those things specifically at Plante's house.
40
@36 No, I just think your point is ridiculous. There are no agent provocateurs there are just assholes in masks smashing things. The nature of anarchist violence suggests nothing more than some dumb angry kids who feel that violence is justified by whatever nonsense they believe.

I find it interesting that you think the police refraining from arresting the leaders of a 'movement' over the actions of its followers is somehow evidence of police misconduct. Seems more like they have acted with discretion, and are only responding so forcefully now because an armed group smashed up downtown in an attempt to cause a riot.
41
The ACLU is a false front for Wall Street bankers? Is this satire?
42
Given the vast difference between the frequencies of violent right-wing political crime vs. violent left-wing political crime, it's beyond ridiculous for cops to give two shits about anarchist literature.

This is just a remnant of Red Scare from the Cold War, and the sooner it's dropped the better.
43
40: It's all well and good to denounce the window smashers as a bunch of idiot kids with nothing better to do. But would you care to explain, at some point, how this justifies the judicial system treating anarchist literature as physical evidence of involvement in specific crimes?

The next time an abortionist gets shot, do we get to arrest my conservative, anti-choice uncle and search his house for Anne Coulter books?
44
The church and state want control over our bodies. The corporations want to destroy the planet for shareholder's profits. Ruling class/business keeps getting richer while the poor get poorer. Wanting to change this is not a crime.

The FBI should go after real criminals like the guy in aurora that purchased 6,000 rounds of assault rifle ammo online. Don't tell me the feds aren't monitoring that.
46
Go to:

Committee Against Political Repression
http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.c…

if you want to get more involved!
47
Iā€™m surprised that no one has blamed Bush, Romney, or the GOP. Come to think of it we are knee deep in Democrat territory so the self righteous Demā€™s are calling the shots here in Seattle. With that said I would look to the socialist wing of the Democratic Party to see where the ā€œhassle from the manā€ is coming from. Never a shortage of Demā€™s wanting to tell you how youā€™ll act, what to read, or say.
48
@47
Your insecurity is showing
49
Here's a summary of 47's posting process:

*Reads an article about people being arrested for possessing left-wing literature*

*Interprets this as evidence that left-wingers are the ones trying to control what you read*

*Never realizes how stupid this is, even in all the time it takes him to shit out his paragraph, hit submit, and hit confirm*

Who could expect anything less from a right-winger?
50
How's that Hope and Change thing working out for you Obama fans? Four more years!

I bet as FBI agents, with assault rifles drawn, smashed through her front door with a battering ram, Plante's first thoughts were, "Thank god for Obama! Think what would happen with a Republican in the White House."
51
So the GOP paid off the FBI too? Shit!
Can't we just take away all their filthy money?
52
I have mixed feelings about this. "Anarchist" can mean a lot of things. I don't think someone calling themselves an anarchist or having anarchist literature is necessarily evidence of involvement in a crime. Yes, the Grand Jury should investigate acts of vandalism. However, they shouldn't be dragging in random anarchists. They need to be sure they get the right people.

At the same time, I'm not fooled by the argument that anarchists are all warm and fuzzy but just misunderstood or unfairly maligned. In 1989, my younger sister showed me a few copies of an anarchist newsletter that was circulating in her high school. The newsletter made repeated suggestions that anarchists rise up and kill the police. They had published names of specific officers with their home addresses. There are some definite whackadoodles within the anarchist community, so I don't blame the locals for wanting some investigation into the property damage.
53
I think the anarchists should be caned, like in Singapore.
54
There are legitimate citizen concerns with the government of our country, and when our SCOTUS and our POTUS are bought by KOCH et al, and it is beginning to appear to average citizens that we have a Vichy government then citizen dissatisfaction is guaranteed.

I think the cops should be arresting the gangster banksters who brought down our entire economy not a few window breakers.

And, 9/11 truth has not been told and needs to be. Sibel Edmonds, Boiling Frogs dot org, a witness that the U.S. KNEW what was happening before 9/11 and that Osama Bin Laden was named as CIA operative in those documents at that time.
55
According to a copy of the warrant, agents were looking for black clothing, paint, sticks, flags, computers and cell phones, and "anti-government or anarchist literature." LOL - I have all of these in my house - I have a degree in English and make costumes as a second job. Not sure which book counts as anarchist literature - Atlas Shrugged, Animal Farm, Stranger in a Strange Land or 1984?
56
I'm a grandfather who finds the actions taken by law enforcement, the secret Grand Jury, Attorney General's office & JudgeĀ Richard Jones manipulating Amendment V of the Constitution highly disturbing. I'm also finding some of the above ā€œdialogā€ on the part of a small number of posters who somehow believe a Republican administration whatever beyond surreal is. Here's to the kool-aid drinkersā€¦
57
The irony of conspiracy theorists talking about those who don't embrace them as kool-aid drinkers is stark... The rhetoric is always so similar. There's a vast conspiracy that you has hoodwinked everyone except the rare few who, with the aid of their binoculars and the internet, have stumbled upon some guy who knows the real truth.

And you want us to believe you because you're right. "Here, drink this kool-aid", you say...

Regarding the actual article, which no one seems to actually care about... If they were so innocent, why not simply state that instead of "refusing to take part". That's a pretty pointless statement.

If they're so persecuted, why are they allowed free access to the internet and access to all their assets and donations. I mean, are you claiming they're elite hackers who smuggle the internet out of solitary, or are you continuing the wonderful duality of "the government is a secret illuminati that runs complex mind-altering plots... yet is completely incompetent and can't manage to do anything correctly"? And this makes sense to you?

Do you not understand the hypocrisy of advocating questioning of the government (usually some fraction of the government that happens to think differently than you) but not your own sources? Question EVERYTHING. Don't somehow believe you are a prophet with the intuition to weed truth from lies. You're not smarter than the "majority". Being brainwashed by the minority doesn't make you clever or original; at best it makes for wry humor, like avoiding the pitfall but tripping on the banana peel.

If the government really COULD run the conspiracies that seem to be dreamed up some places, how is it that YOU somehow discovered it, can talk freely about it without fear of retribution, and can publicly spread this message? That's the grand irony of this article. If they really were the political martyrs they claimed to be, they'd have closed the hearings, seized their assets, and avoided these articles.
58
OMG, almost everyone I've even known has: Black clothing, Computer(s), Cell phone, paint, sticks, even flags! does that mean everyone is a terrorist? I bet everyone on the SWAT team that raided her house has those items. And I am sure they have all read anarchist material as part of their research. I have read litature of most religions to see why they think the way they do, may have read some of the bad books to, along with every text book and encylapedia set I touched, does that make me a bad person!! I should turn myself in, we all should turn our selves in. 100% of the population should be in jail right now... this is so fing stupid.
59
This is what we the people get - when a MADMAN USURPER - overlooks THIRTY-TWO Radical Muslim Training camps on US soil - reported to Homeland Security by alert US citizens -

only for Obama to have Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security issue a report labeling anyone who attended Tax Day Tea Party events as Domestic terrorists, demoralizing Americans exercising their Constitutional rights to Freedom of Association, Individual Freedoms and Liberties - showing their Political Dissent - in a Civil demonstration, while Obama was DEMONIZING our returning American troops as possible recruits for right-wing Extremists -

and the Left laughing about it -

until the Leftists get the doors of their houses rammed in by SWAT TEAMS, etc.

If we the people do not stick together - from being pulled apart by a Madman in the White House, then it being every man for himself - is exactly what the Coward-in-Chief wants.

Reminder:
To QUELL the FIRESTORM of OUTRAGE - over the report issued by Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security,
w demands for Obama to FIRE NAPOLITANO - not just get her to resign,

Obama devised the SECRET FLYOVER of the Manhattan Skylines of Air Force One and threee fighter jets - causing WIDESPREAD PANIC - as maliciously intended - reminding everyone of the RADICAL MUSLIM TERRORIST ATTACK in New York City on 911.

What occurred in BENGHAZI - on the Anniversary of 911 - 2012 -
w his STAND DOWN ORDERS -
when Americans, serving The USA abroad,
were under siege in a RADICAL MUSLIM TERRORIST ATTACK -
resulting in Benghazi-Gate= Democratic Party members Obama, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton LYING about it = anti-Islam video that caused a protest that turned violent = are ACTS of TREASON!!!

Their LIES and DECEIT were aiding and abetting our ENEMIES!!!!

Move on it - w yr elected members of our US Congress =
respectfully demand Obama STEP DOWN as POTUS and Commander-in-Chief or FACE IMPEACHMENT!!!
60
This is what we the people get - when a MADMAN USURPER - overlooks THIRTY-TWO Radical Muslim Training camps on US soil - reported to Homeland Security by alert US citizens -

only for Obama to have Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security issue a report labeling anyone who attended Tax Day Tea Party events as Domestic terrorists, demoralizing Americans exercising their Constitutional rights to Freedom of Association, Individual Freedoms and Liberties - showing their Political Dissent - in a Civil demonstration, while Obama was DEMONIZING our returning American troops as possible recruits for right-wing Extremists -

and the Left laughing about it -

until the Leftists get the doors of their houses rammed in by SWAT TEAMS, etc.

If we the people do not stick together - from being pulled apart by a Madman in the White House, then it being every man for himself - is exactly what the Coward-in-Chief wants.

Reminder:
To QUELL the FIRESTORM of OUTRAGE - over the report issued by Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security,
w demands for Obama to FIRE NAPOLITANO - not just get her to resign,

Obama devised the SECRET FLYOVER of the Manhattan Skylines of Air Force One and threee fighter jets - causing WIDESPREAD PANIC - as maliciously intended - reminding everyone of the RADICAL MUSLIM TERRORIST ATTACK in New York City on 911.

What occurred in BENGHAZI - on the Anniversary of 911 - 2012 -
w his STAND DOWN ORDERS -
when Americans, serving The USA abroad,
were under siege in a RADICAL MUSLIM TERRORIST ATTACK -
resulting in Benghazi-Gate= Democratic Party members Obama, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton LYING about it = anti-Islam video that caused a protest that turned violent = are ACTS of TREASON!!!

Their LIES and DECEIT were aiding and abetting our ENEMIES!!!!

Move on it - w yr elected members of our US Congress =
respectfully demand Obama STEP DOWN as POTUS and Commander-in-Chief or FACE IMPEACHMENT!!!

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