Leah-Lynn Plante Remanded into Federal Custody for Refusal to Provide Grand Jury Testimony Against Northwest Activists
Oct 11, ’12 7:32 AM
La 24enne anarchica Leah-Lynn Plante si è rifiutata di testimoniare nei confronti di altri militanti. Così, il 10 Ottobre 2012 è stata incarcerata, con l’accusa di mancanza di collaborazione con la Giuria, rischia una condanna a 18 mesi.
Seattle, WA] At 2:45pm PDT yesterday (October 10, 2012) a federal judge for Washington’s Western district ordered that Leah-Lynn Plante be remanded into federal custody for her refusal to provide federal grand jury testimony regarding activists in the Northwest. At 5pm PDT Leah-Lynn was moved to the Seattle-Tacoma Federal Detention Facility (SEATAC) where she is now being held in administrative detention and it is unclear if she will matriculate into general population or if she will remain in the Secure Housing Unit (SHU).
Leah-Lynn recorded a powerful statement yesterday regarding her expected detention. Her statement has also been attached as text below.
A subpoena called Leah-Lynn to appear in front an investigative grand jury earlier this year, yesterday was the third time Leah-Lynn had been compelled to appear before the grand jury and provide testimony. As part of a strategy to resist what Leah-Lynn saw as a fishing expedition into the names and affiliations of Northwest activists each time Leah-Lynn was called to the grand jury room she invoked her 1st, 5th, and 4th amendment constitutional protections. The prosecutor’s response to Leah-Lynn’s strategy and the strategy of activists Matt Duran and Kteeo Olejnik who were subpoenaed to the grand jury prior to Leah-Lynn was to order the judge to provide each of them immunity to self-incrimination if they provided testimony (side-stepping their tactic of pleading the 5th amendment). The judge also made a ruling that evoking one’s 1st and 4th amendment privileges were not applicable in this matter. Leah-Lynn’s resolve to not cooperate with the grand jury was then met by a contempt charge.
Little is known about what specifically the grand jury is investigating. It can be assumed that those who were subpeanaed to appear before the grand jury are not targets of the investigation themselves but rather people that the federal government believe could help their investigation. What is known, however, is that the government and media made mentions that this grand jury was convened to investigate a May 1, 2012 “May Day” protest in Seattle in which vandalism occurred. While the U.S. attorneys may (or may not) have added the May Day protest into the investigative query of this grand jury probe, what is known is that they mislead the public in their claims that this grand jury was convened for the purpose of investigating the May 1, 2012 protest actions. Responses to a federal FOIA request have shown that this grand jury convened on March 2, 2012, two full months before the May Day actions even occurred. It is also known that this grand jury can remain open until April of 2014 and that those detained for refusing to cooperate with subpenaes can be detained for the life of the grand jury.
It is of the utmost importance that we as activists give our solidarity and support to those who have forfeited their freedom to protect the freedom of others. Please do everything you can to support their selflessness, organize benefits, letter writing parties teach-ins, solidarity demos outside of federal courthouses. You can donate to their legal defense here http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/donate/
Prison can be a very lonely place & writing a prisoner can provide much needed moral support. Here are the addresses for all three grand jury resisters:
http://www.sparrowmedia.net/2012/10/leah-lynn-plante-grand-jury/
Statement From A Resister – Leah-Lynn Plante from Because We Must on Vimeo.