SCADP Board members Ron Kaz, Kate Webb and Anna Shockley and volunteer Elaine Cooper traveled to Washington, D.C. for the Abolitionist Action Committee's direct action on Tuesday, January 17, commemorating the execution of Gary Gilmore, the first execution since reinstatement of the death penalty. While Kate and Elaine provided support services and took part in a legal demonstration on the sidewalk, Ron and Anna, along with twelve others, unfolded a 30 foot banner that said "Stop Executions" on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. Ironically, this is an illegal act. ("Free speech stops on the steps of the Supreme Court," a police officer once told us.) Supreme Court police arrested all fourteen protesters.
The banner was up for over twenty minutes before the Supreme Court police had arrested all of us and collected it. The officers who booked us were extremely polite, but inflicted considerable pain on us by keeping us in very tight plastic handcuffs for nearly four hours. They also took our coats, sweaters, and sweatshirts, claiming that we were only allowed to have one layer of clothing. When we arrived at "central lockup," we were told that this was incorrect and we would have been welcome to have our clothes.
With the exception of the first such action in 1997, protesters at the Gilmore action have been held in "Lockup" overnight. In 2007, we were taken to the city jail the next morning and kept until our arraignment that evening. This time, all of the women (repeat offenders Rachel Lawler and Anna Shockley and new recruits Amber Mason, Anne Feczko, Charity Lee and Eve Tetaz) and Randy Gardner were released by 7:00 the same night. Kevin Mason and Tom Muther were released soon afterward. Five people, Ron Kaz, Scott Langley, Jack Payden-Travers, Daniel Flynn, and Jon Dunn had given their names as Troy Davis. The city police officer who released us (the women) told us that they might have to keep them overnight, because they could not do background checks on them. However, by 10:30pm they had found information on Ron, Scott, and Jack, who had been arrested for this action in previous years, and the three men were also released. Only Daniel and Jon remained in jail overnight and were not released until after our arraingment the next evening.
We will have a status hearing on February 8 and a trial at some time in the spring. Some of us had to travel long distances for this action and will have to do so again at least for the trial and possibly for the status hearing. If you can contribute even a small amount toward travel expenses, please contact Scott Langley at scott(at)abolition.org. Also please read Scott's article about the action and the report in the Washington Post, and if you want to help us in our work to abolish the death penalty, please email anna(at)charlestonpeace.net.
