MAY DAY ARRESTEE GETS 3 YEARS

On Thursday November 15th Robert Middaugn was scheduled to begin his

trial stemming from his arrest at the Reclaim the Streets demo in Long

Beach on May 1st. Robert had been in Jail since May 1st and was charged

with Felony assault against a peace officer (pig), Felony riot, Felony

conspiracy, Felony resisting arrest, and misdemeanor failure to disperse.

At the time of his arrest on May 1st Ruckus was on formal probation

stemming from pleading guilty to assault against a pig at the Democratic

National Convention. When we appeared in court the morning of November

15th there were 4 pigs sitting in the courtroom in the jury chairs. We

soon learned that these pigs were there to testify against Ruckus for his

parole violation hearing. Yes, the pig court was going to have Robert’s

probation violation hearing before his trial; in reality you are guilty

until proven innocent in the American injustice system. The prosecution

put the ‘deal’ of offering Ruckus3 years in State Prison and 3 years

formal probation upon release. In order to coerce Ruckus into taking the

plea the judge informed Ruckus that he would be facing 4 years just for

his probation violation not to mention a possible 13 more if found guilty

of the other charges. Ruckus was threatened with 17 years in prison.

After discussing the situation with his attorney Ruckus decided to take

the 3 years in prison. As Ruckus was being led away in shackles he

raised his fist to the approx 15 people there in court to support him,

and we raised our fists back and proceeded to leave the courtroom after

letting the judge, bailiffs, and police know what we thought of them.

Roberts lawyer has informed us that Rob will not be transferred to state

prison for at least a few weeks. Please write to him at his current

address.

Robert Middaugn

#6859467

P.O. Box 86164

Terminal Annex

Los Angeles CA, 90086-164



Misdemeanor Trials Begin For May Day Arrestees

On November 15, nine people who had not yet pleaded out were scheduled to

begin trial in Division 9 at the Long Beach Municipal Court House. Of

these 9, four people chose to plead out leaving 5 people left still going

to trial. Those who plead out on that day received 1 year of probation,

a 5 fine, and some received 30 days of community service. After all

the pleas were taken, trial began for three defendants after lunch break

on November 15th. The trial began with two motions made by the defense.

The first motion was to dismiss the illegal assembly charges based on the

fact that the superior court of Los Angeles had recently ruled that Long

Beaches permitting process for protest demonstrations was

unconstitutional. The second motion was stated that the Long Beach

Police department had engaged in entrapment, and thus the charges were

not legitimate.

Needless to say, both of these motions were denied in court on Friday

November 16th. Jury selection will take place on Monday November 19th and

will most likely last two to three days. Opening statements should take

place approximately by Wednesday. Please, if you live in the southern

California area, come out to this court case and support our comrades who

are going thru trial.

Court begins around 9am on the third floor of the Long Beach Municipal

Court House in Division 9.

To be added to an e-mail updates list for the upcoming trials please send

a message to: Lbmaydayfund@disinfo.net