SF8 Court Date

Thursday, January 10
Press Conference 8:30 - 850 Bryant St
Court @ 9:30 Department 23 - 3rd Floor

SAN FRANCISCO 8 TO ENTER NOT GUILTY PLEAS!
CONSPIRACY CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST 5!

On Friday, January 4th prosecutors in the case announced that they
are filing an amended complaint against 7 of the 8 which in effect
drops the conspiracy count against five of the men because the
statute of limitations (of 3 years on conspiracy) has expired. This
was a response to defense motions filed recently that challenged the
complaint on the basis of the expired statute of limitations,
something which the prosecution should have been aware of all
along. According to one of the attorney's, Stuart Hanlon, "This is
the first step in the government's case falling apart."

Seven defendants (Richard O'Neal no longer faces charges) will enter
NOT GUILTY pleas in Department 23 at 9:30 am.

A recently launched international campaign calls for the dropping of
all current charges against the remaining defendants and ending all
incidents of torture within the U.S. criminal justice system. The
call has already been signed by many prominent supporters of the
defendants including Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South
Africa, Danny Glover, actor and human rights activist, Cynthia
McKinney, former Congresswoman and current presidential candidate,
and Cindy Sheehan, founder of Camp Casey Peace Institute, human
rights activist, and candidate for US Congress.

Members of the San Francisco 8, their attorneys and their supporters
will hold a press conference before their scheduled court appearance.
Charges against them arise from a 37-year old cold case. The 1971
case was thrown out of the California courts in the 1970s because of
the use of statements resulting from police torture. These same
unreliable tortured confessions are again being used by the state of
California in an attempt to prosecute this case.




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Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR)
PO Box 90221
Pasadena, CA 91109
(415) 226-1120
FreetheSF8 [at] riseup.net