I think this story typifies how free speech has come to include "free destruction of property" for some segments of the protest bunch. If we as a society still allowed people to punch these kinds of whackos in the nose while they were commiting their acts, I think we'd see a big increase in POLITE and reasoned free speech.
I guarantee these four grew up in a sheltered and undisciplined setting (or went to Montessori school).
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http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050921/NEWS01/509210336/1002Recruiter recalls being splashed with blood during protest
War protesters decline chance to cross-examine first witnesses
By NANCY DOOLING
Gannett News Service
BINGHAMTON On March 17, 2003, four protesters splashed or poured their own blood on the walls, floor, an American flag and other items in a Lansing military recruiting office to protest the pending war with Iraq.
In the process, some of the blood got on Staff Sgt. Rachon Montgomery, the Army recruiter who worked out of the office.
You don't come to work expecting that kind of thing, Montgomery testified Tuesday in federal court where Clare Grady, Teresa Grady, Peter De Mott and Daniel Burns are on trial for what prosecutors said was violating federal laws.
I was just there to do my job, said Montgomery, 31. He's been an Army recruiter for six years, Montgomery told a courtroom packed with about 100 people, most of them supporters of the four protesters. Testimony from additional prosecution witnesses, including the police, is expected today.
The four are on trial in federal court on charges of conspiring to impede the duties of U.S. officials and damaging or injuring federal property and officials. The conspiracy charge the most serious carries up to six years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The trial began Monday.
The four protesters, who live in Ithaca, said they'd each had four ounces of blood withdrawn by a nurse. They brought their blood about two cups total, Clare Grady testified in four containers to the recruiting office and splashed it on various items in the office. A small amount landed on the recruiter's hand while Burns was splashing his blood on a glass door in the office lobby, Montgomery testified.
Photographs offered by the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Miroslav Lovric, showed blood on an American flag and a military banner. A few streams of blood were poured onto the walls and pooled where the wall met the floor. Bloody footprints were also tracked across the lobby's linoleum floors, the photographs showed.
Professional cleaners were hired the next day to clean the mess. The lobby smelled badly before the cleaners arrived, Montgomery said. He said he had himself tested afterward for blood-borne illnesses such as HIV and hepatitis. Though the tests came back negative, he said he was upset by the incident.
The protesters, who call themselves the St. Patrick's Four, said they protested with blood to stop the military from recruiting young men and women for the war. They said their act was not a crime because they acted to prevent a larger crime America's plan to go to war with Iraq, they testified.
A Tompkins County jury could not decide last year if the four were guilty of state felony criminal mischief charges in connection with the 2003 protest. Their Tompkins County trial ended in a mistrial, and the case was passed on to federal prosecutors.
Tempers flared briefly when Burns protested the wording of the indictment.
That is a misjustice, he shouted, throwing a pen onto a table. Judge Thomas J. McAvoy threatened to remove Burns from the courtroom
You cannot discuss it now, he told Burns, who later apologized to the judge and the jury. The four are representing themselves, with help from three legal advisers.
They declined to cross-examine Montgomery and State Police Capt. Lawrence Jackmin from Ithaca, who testified about a Dec. 21, 2002, protest at the Lansing recruiting office when 14 protesters lay down in the lobby and refused to leave. Three of the four were involved in the 2002 protest; Teresa Grady was not. One of the counts on the indictment concerns the 2002 incident.
The protesters have admitted to pouring their blood in protest. Clare Grady on Tuesday appealed to the 12-member jury to use reason and their hearts to decide the case. She said she was moved to protest after a visit to Iraq in 1999.
This case is about love, truth and the power of symbolic actions, she testified.
Contact:
ndooling@pressconnects.comOriginally published September 21, 2005
