Mark Colville got a stiffer punishment for simulating Blackwater USA’s slaughter of innocent Iraqi civilians than the mercenaries who actually committed the crime.
Details at New Haven Advocate and National Catholic Reporter.
Colville and Co. were tried last week before a kangaroo court in Currituck County, N.C., where the judge ordered the public, the press and the defense witnesses out the courtroom without explanation, then proceeded to pronounce the demonstrators’ guilty as charged.
Virginia-Pilot also reports on this violation of the right to a public trial, which shall be the basis of their appeal. Few other newspapers have picked up the story, however.
In a courtroom closed to the press and public, protesters were sentenced to jail Wednesday for re-enacting a Baghdad shooting incident at the front entrance of Blackwater .
They said they will appeal the verdicts, partly on the grounds that they were denied their constitutional right to a public trial.
Currituck County District Judge Edgar Barnes took the rare step of clearing the courtroom after trying one of the protesters, Steve Baggarly of Norfolk, in public. The remaining six were then tried, convicted and sentenced behind closed doors.
The judge gave no reason for his action. …
Katy Parker, legal director of the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said she had never before heard of a similar action being taken by a North Carolina judge.
“It’s a clear violation of constitutional rights, not only of the defendants but the press and public,” she said. “They have a right to a public trial, so any trial that goes on behind closed doors is a farce.”
Editorial from the Virginia-Pilot denounces the judge’s actions, which are clearly unconstitutional. See also DailyAdvance.com.
Another report says that someone tried to read the Constitution to the guards, but they shut the door in their face.
Where is the outrage? This was over two weeks ago! Why has the national media not picked up on this?
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