wendy
Photo by Chris Schneider/Rocky Mountain News
By Carlos Miller
Almost two weeks after St. Paul announced it will drop all charges against journalists arrested at the Republic National Convention, several independent media journalists still have felony charges hanging over them.
“They told me my charges have been reduced,” said Wendy Binion, pictured above, who was working for the Portland Independent Media Center when she was arrested for videotaping a protest.
Whereas before she was facing felony rioting charges, she is now facing “conspiracy to commit a riot, under investigation”, which means her case will remain open for at least a year, possibly longer.
“It basically means that they reserve the right to charge me whenever they want to,” she said in a recent phone interview with Photography is Not a Crime.
Adding insult to injury, Binion is still waiting for police to return her video camera.
“I’ve been having to play this game with them trying to find out where it’s at,” she said. “It’s not at the Ramsey County Jail, it’s in some impound yard.”
And considering that Binion is back in Portland, it makes it eve more complicated to get her camera returned to her.
“They say I need to get a public notarized statement to give a friend permission to pick it up,” she said. “They have to make a special appointment to get the camera.”
Other journalists waiting for their charges to be dropped are Alex Lilly of Portland Indymedia as well as members of the Glass Bead Collective, who are making a documentary about excessive police tactics used during the Republic National Convention.
For those of you who follow this blog, you may remember the Glass Bead Collective as the New York group of filmmakers who produced the following video of NYPD going berserk on Critical Mass riders in Times Square.
Meanwhile, the Denver police union is celebrating the end of the Democratic National Convention by handing out the following Constitution-mocking t-shirts to its officers.
Here’s betting that Denver police officer Scott Stewart received at least two t-shirts for his courageous and valiant efforts at maintaining the peace.
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5 responses so far ↓
1 genewitch // Oct 2, 2008 at 3:42 AM
at first i thought the t-shirt was a joke. then i realized it was, but not the sort of joke that’s funny. i like how assface in the article said “we haven’t received any complaints”
you mean NO ONE HAS TOLD YOU YET.
it is freaking appalling, man. the fact that BEAT was made bigger makes it appalling. those guys are jerks. the slash 68 thing too is a slap in the face.
2 PDBreske // Oct 2, 2008 at 11:55 AM
Oh, come on. The shirt IS a little funny.
3 enhager // Oct 2, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Another exclusive – where’s the red type?
4 Keith Skinner // Oct 16, 2008 at 12:43 AM
@ JamesC
Justice Byron White says she is a journalist:
U.S. Supreme Court
BRANZBURG v. HAYES, 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
408 U.S. 665
BRANZBURG v. HAYES ET AL., JUDGES
CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF KENTUCKY
No. 70-85.
Argued February 23, 1972
Decided June 29, 1972
LINK IS HERE:
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/press/topic.aspx?topic=blogging
HIS QUOTE FOLLOWS:
“Sooner or later, it would be necessary to define those categories of newsmen who qualified for the privilege, a questionable procedure in light of the traditional doctrine that liberty of the press is the right of the lonely pamphleteer who uses carbon paper or a mimeograph just as much as of the large metropolitan publisher who utilizes the latest photocomposition methods.”
White added:
“Freedom of the press is a ‘fundamental personal right’ which ‘is not confined to newspapers and periodicals. It necessarily embraces pamphlets and leaflets. … The press in its historic connotation comprehends every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion.’ … The informative function asserted by representatives of the organized press in the present cases is also performed by lecturers, political pollsters, novelists, academic researchers, and dramatists.”
Not hard to understand even for the layman! Do you understand it now? If not your part of the problem!
The entire case can be read at the following url:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=408&invol=665
5 jones // Mar 3, 2009 at 11:49 AM
I didn’t know carrot top was a reporter. I swear officer I wasn’t rioting, I always wear my riot helmet when I go out.
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