Update on the San Francisco 8 case

From: NYC Jericho Movement
Date: 8/24/2007 2:08:19 AM
To: pickupthework@fifthhorseman.net
Subject: [Pickupthework] Wednesday 8/22 SF8 Court Report: bail, discovery, DNA

Bail Reduced!

Addressing a tense courtroom packed with both supporters and police, Judge Philip Moscone electrified supporters when he announced major bail reductions for the six bailable defendants in the SF 8 case.

Ray Boudreaux: $ 385,000
Richard Brown: $ 420,000
Hank Jones: $ 600,000
Richard O'Neal: $ 200,000
Harold Taylor: $ 350,000
Francisco Torres: $ 660,000

Moscone noted that "danger to public safety" was not an issue in his decision, and arrived at the varying amounts based on 1) the seriousness of allegations against each individual in the Ingleside charge and the overt acts of the conspiracy charge, and 2) likelihood of appearance, noting that all the men have had stable residences for a long time and have strong family and community ties.

Moscone preceded his announcement with the statement that "not everyone" would be happy with what he was going to do. Following the bail announcement, scores of police, including Detective Erdelatz (the SFDP zealot who has pursued the men for three decades) left the
courtroom.

Family members and supporters stated that they expected to be able to raise the reduced bails. Supporters who wish to discuss offering their property as collateral towards bail should call for an explanation of the process: (415) 226-1120.

Problems with discovery compliance

The rest of the morning addressed discovery issues.

Stuart Hanlon, attorney for Herman Bell, summarized a major problem: Although the prosecution has turned over the equivalent of more than 200,000 pages, the documents are so disorganized it is as if those pages were strewn on the floor randomly. After months of effort by 20 workers over hundreds of hours, the defense still cannot locate the documents it needs. In addition, countless portions of the documents, including contact information for every single witness, have been blacked out.

Hanlon also argued that the basis of the current prosecution was supposed to be "new" evidence relating to DNA and ballistics. But where was the evidence?

DNA

Michael Burt, attorney for Ray Boudreaux, added that the prosecution denied having DNA reports for over a year, but when reports were provided a few days ago, it was clear the government had had them since 2006 - and they were still incomplete. "We need every test that they have done," Burt said. The defense noted that the partial DNA reports released by the state recently not only show no matches to any of the eight, one of them matches the profile of one of the state's experts, indicating contamination of evidence.

Hanlon added that instead of ballistics reports the prosecution has given them statements by police. "Declarations don't mean a thing," Hanlon asserted. "After 25 years of seeing police lie outright in the case of Geronimo Pratt, I want to see evidence, not declarations."

Next court date

Moscone ordered the discovery issues to continue on Tuesday, August 28. He will meet with the attorneys alone at 9:30, and the official court hearing will begin at 1:30. Motions about timeliness and prosecutorial delay will be filed after discovery is resolved.

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Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@riseup.net • www.jerichony.org