Officers’ safety comes first, and not infringing on people’s rights comes second.
— Lieutenant Fran Healy, Special Adviser to the Police Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department
(Via Radley Balko.)
By Carlos Miller
George Donnelly, the Pennsylvania videographer who was arrested last week for videotaping federal officers in front of an Allentown courthouse, is facing eight years in prison for his deed.
He is specifically being accused of striking one of the officers.
Anybody who has seen the two previous videos where Donnelly was confronted by federal officers in front of a courthouse will find these charges hard to believe.
After all, Donnelly has a tendency to remain courteous even when getting threatened with violence.
Nevertheless, the federal government is charging him with assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain United States Government officers or employees, which carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.
The evidence, of course, lies in the videotape they confiscated from him. We’ll be lucky if that ever makes the light of day.
When contacted by Photography is Not a Crime today, Donnelly said he was not commenting about his case.
But Libertadedia, described as the libertarian encyclopedia, offers detailed information obtained from court records.
The site states he has been subjected to the following conditions under house arrest, even though he has not been convicted:
Donnelly was arrested on May 11th when he was accompanying activist Julian Heicklens who was passing out literature on jury nullification.
This is how Heicklens describes the incident:
At 12:10 pm, six federal marshals approached us in a confrontational manner and said we could not pass out literature nor take pictures. They stood right in front of each of us, no more than 6 inches away, so that we could not communicate with passersby. These were 6 of the most obnoxious people I have ever met.
We asked the marshals to identify themselves, but they refused. We would not identify ourselves.George attempted to take a picture, but they seized George’s camera. He attempted to retrieve it, but they they threw George to the ground. Then they decided to arrest him for assault. They were joined by a 7th marshal.
Heicklens states that Donnelly was released after spending two days in jail, forced to wear an electronic bracelet because he was unable to meet the $50,000 bail.
Last month, Donnelly was harassed twice for videotaping outside a federal courthouse, including one time when a federal officer got into his face and stated the following:
“If you get too close to me with that camera, I’ll take it out of your hand and ram it down your throat”
Although this was clearly a physical threat and there is no doubt who it came from, the officer was never disciplined because he was still working his beat since then, according to an interview with Donnelly a couple of weeks back.
The second time he was harassed, a different set of officers threatened to confiscate his camera.
Both times, he responded politely yet firmly, insisting that he was not breaking any laws, which he wasn’t.
So I’m looking forward to see how he responded in the video we have yet to see.
On his blog, Donnelly says he does not have an attorney and is asking for legal assistance, so hopefully people come through because this is an important matter. Here is the link to donate.
Related posts:
(Via Fr33 Agents and Drunkenatheist 2010-05-14.)
Since the collapse of the Iron Curtain, it’s fallen to the Western nations to take up the banner of the War on Photography, formerly a stereotypically East German sort of preoccupation for the Securitate…
A few days ago, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the United States government’s Marshals attacked, arrested, and imprisoned my friend George Donnelly, an Anarchist based out of Philadelphia. They attacked him because he was filming the Marshals attacking somebody else, Julian Heicklen, who was peacefully distributing pamphlets about jury nullification in front of a federal courthouse. When Marshals got up in Heicklen’s face, he started arguing with them; like most government cops, the Marshals are happy to gang up on old men, and like most government cops, they believe they have the right and duty to use physical violence in order to put an end to purely verbal arguments. When the Marshals started attacking Heicklen, some of them went after George for filming what they were doing. Since he wouldn’t stop filming or hand over his camera on command, the Marshals tackled him, planted a knee on his face and pried the camera out of his hands. Then they arrested him for resisting arrest, and forced into a Federal jail for about 2 days before he was finally released, after a concerted effort by George’s friends at Fr33 Agents to make calls demanding his release.
He is safe at home for now with his wife and child. But the bullshit charges are still pending. Here’s George:
Thank you so much to everyone who noted my disappearing by federal agents and took steps to aid me. I am blessed and grateful to have such dear friends and comrades. Thank you. I will post more when I can. I’m currently recuperating from the relatively mild torture tactics deployed against me (and many other peaceful individuals I had the pleasure of meeting) in the local federal prison.
I’m currently seeking a criminal defense attorney who can assist in defending me against the federal onslaught. I am infinitely grateful for any assistance you can render. Thank you.
Here’s Vicki Moore’s call for solidarity with George. I couldn’t agree more.
As you can imagine, the next few months (or years, however the hell long it is for him) are going to be rough for George and his family. It’s hard enough being in a
he said-she saidcase against a regular person; imagine being in ahe said-she saidagainst the government with only two libertarians backing you up! He is going to be under a crazy amount of stress until these charges are (hopefully!) dismissed.This is where your help is needed.
George needs a good criminal defense attorney who is well versed in first amendment cases and doesn’t mind taking on the federal government. He will also need a legal defense fund; he’s got a wife and a young son at home, let’s try to help ease the financial pressure on them. As of right now (Friday, May 14th, 2:46 am EST), George is taking donations through his paypal account (link located here). I will update if I find out anything else regarding a legal defense fund for him.
I know that the internet regularly sucks my will to live, but incidences like these are one of the few times I feel like I can have faith in the ‘tubes. This whole situation kills me. Admittedly, it’s in part because even though we haven’t met (yet), George and I run in some of the same circles and have several shared acquaintances/irl friends. Please help him in whatever way you can; even if you can’t donate money right now, just spread the info around and maybe you know someone who can.
She also has a good round-up of links to the reporting on the police riot at the courthouse. I don’t have much to add, except my best wishes and solidarity for George and his family, and my hope that y’all will spread the word about this police assault and what we can do to help George get through this.
Solidarity with George Donnelly! Free all political prisoners!