State Repression

Thursday morning, Minneapolis grand jury resister Scott DeMuth was charged with conspiracy to commit animal enterprise terrorism in Davenport, Iowa federal court.  He is currently being held in the disciplinary block at the Muscatine County Jail after he was found to be in civil contempt of court for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury that convened in Davenport on Tuesday.  Because the civil contempt charge was later dropped, on Friday he attended a hearing to decide on his possible release on unsecured bond; a final decision has not yet been made by the court.  

We've heard from Scott and Carrie! They are in good spirits and send thanks and love to everyone. We've also got new information as to how to support them. Please help them out as much as you can, and encourage your loved ones and communities to do the same!

Today, Minneapolis-based activists Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth refused to testify in front of a grand jury in Davenport, Iowa, and were found to be in contempt of court. They were immediately handcuffed and hauled off by U.S. Marshalls. According to District Judge John Jarvey, who presided over the contempt hearings, both will remain incarcerated until they agree to testify. The state can lock them up for the duration of the grand jury--another 11 months.

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A second person, Scott DeMuth of Minneapolis, has been subpoenaed to the federal grand jury in Davenport, Iowa. Scott, along with previously subpoenaed anarchist Carrie Feldman, plans to resist the grand jury. His statement, as well as support info, is below.

(from the Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure)

Update from Carrie, who was subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in Iowa on October 15th:

UPDATE: After reading a statement to the grand jury, Feldman returned to the Twin Cities Thursday night with a subpoena to appear again one month from now. More, including the text of the statement, here.

Early Tuesday evening, Twin Cities activist Carrie Feldman was pulled over by Cedar Rapids, Iowa FBI agents and served a subpoena (PDF) to appear in Davenport, Iowa federal court. The subpoena, dated October 6, originally asked her to appear on Wednesday morning; that date has been pushed back to Thursday at 1pm. No other activists are known to have been subpoenaed. Feldman was also informed that her high school attendance records from 2004 were under investigation. (Read her personal statement below.)

Grand juries have been a leading tool of the Green Scare--the demonization and repression of both legal and illegal activities carried out by environmentalist and animal rights/animal liberation activists. The hearings are particularly troublesome for their secrecy; even the witnesses called to testify are often left wondering what the investigation is about. In this case, too, the nature of the investigation is at present completely unknown and left to the speculation of observers. However, a check of the Omaha, Nebraska FBI Field Office website (the office serves all of Iowa) shows that the FBI is prioritizing its investigation into a November, 2004 Animal Liberation Front action at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Related: Grand Juries 101 PDF zine | EWOK!/MidwestGreenScare.org

Grand Jury Subpoena of Carrie Feldman

UPDATE 9PM: We are sorry to report that Forrey was found guilty yesterday by a jury.  His sentencing was scheduled for September 17 at 1:30pm.

UPDATE 8/6: The jury has been out since 10:15am.

8/5: After three days of Jesse Forrey's trial, closing arguments and jury instructions will begin at 9am on Thursday in Room 1140 of the Ramsey County Courthouse at 15 W. Kellogg Boulevard in St. Paul.  This will be the last chance for the jury to see the crowd of supporters which has numbered 30-45 throughout the trial thus far.  Barring unusually long deliberations, the jury will likely return its verdict Thursday.  To be text messaged as soon as the verdict is in, sign up for TCIMC's twitter feed by texting follow tcimc to 40404.