Contents:

• Victory in Darryl Robinson Case
• "Wall 7" Charges Dismissed

VICTORY!

In an exciting courtroom victory today, charges leveled against CUAPB Vice President Darryl Robinson after he was beaten and arrested during copwatch were suddenly dropped by the prosecution in the middle of jury selection.  We believe this was indicative of the weakness of the case, once the prosecution realized there were a number of witnesses who could collaborate Darryl's recollections of the incident.  Darryl still faces one count of trespass for a previous copwatch incident and that case will go to trial on March 23rd but for now we are all relishing the wonderful victory today.

Thanks go to Ted Dooley, attorney extraordinaire, and to the large number of wonderful folks who showed up for courtwatch today--including five members of the RNC 8.  The judge really took notice when the entire courtroom stood up as Darryl's name was called.  Courtwatch/court solidarity rocks!

Please continue to support people going to court on RNC-related charges.  For an ongoing court calendar of RNC cases, go to http://twincities.indymedia.org/ and look under the Upcoming Events column.

"WALL 7" CHARGES DISMISSED!

In what many consider the first test of the strength of RNC prosecutions, charges were dismissed on Friday, January 23rd against a group of seven people arrested at Wall and 6th Streets.  The "Wall 7" were along a group of 30 people who were arrested on day 1 after they were hemmed in the area by marauding bands of riot cops and bicycle patrols.  Each of the defendants faced four misdemeanor charges.

The weakness of the case became apparent after three days of cop testimony in which prosecution witnesses tried to tie Wall 7 defendants with incidents in other intersections blocks away.  Having enough of the farce, the judge declared that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the prosecution and tossed out all charges with no option for the prosecution to bring charges later.

The case was also a showcase for the wisdom of court solidarity.  Although the "Wall 7" are young people mostly from the northeast, they vowed not to take any deals and to return to court in St. Paul as many times as it took to clear their names.  They were aided in this effort by travel funds and other assistance from Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure (CRASS), a group formed to address the arrests and other after-effects of the RNC.  For more information on CRASS, go to www.rncaftermath.org