[mobglob-discuss] [Fwd: OCAP's John Clarke has charges stayed!]

Thu Oct 30 10:26:19 PST 2003



>---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
>Subject: OCAP's John Clarke has charges stayed!
>From:    "TDRC" <tdrc at tdrc.net>
>Date:    Thu, October 30, 2003 12:48 pm
>To:      tdrc at tdrc.net
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>             Charges against activist quashed
>
>             Queen's Park riot now behind him, Clarke vows to keep
>protesting poverty
>
>
>             By GAY ABBATE
>             COURTS REPORTER, GLOBE AND MAIL
>
>             UPDATED AT 11:49 AM EST
>
>
>       A jubilant but defiant John Clarke vowed to continue organizing
>antipoverty demonstrations after a judge threw out criminal charges
>against him arising from a Queen's Park riot three years ago.
>
>       "We're going to move forward and continue with our struggle, which
>is very important," he said yesterday in an interview minutes after
>the charges were stayed, ending the threat of up to five years in
>prison.
>
>       The 48-year-old chief spokesman for the Ontario Coalition Against
>Poverty was charged with inciting the June 15, 2000, riot in front
>of the Ontario Legislature, and with counselling demonstrators to
>assault police.
>
>       "I'm enormously relieved," said the social activist dedicated to
>helping the province's poor and homeless.
>
>       Mr. Justice Harvey Spiegel of the Ontario Superior Court did not
>give reasons for dismissing the charges, saying they would be
>forthcoming within two weeks. He did say that he had spent "an
>anxious three days" considering his decision.
>
>       Judge Spiegel was ruling on a motion for a stay brought by Peter
>Rosenthal, Mr. Clarke's lawyer. Mr. Rosenthal, who has represented
>Mr. Clarke pro bono since he was charged a month after the peaceful
>demonstration turned violent, argued last week that the charges
>should be tossed out because of the time it has taken to get to
>trial.
>
>       Mr. Rosenthal said the Crown delayed the trial process by not
>disclosing any evidence to the defence until seven months after Mr.
>Clarke's arrest. Mr. Rosenthal successfully argued that the police
>concluded their preliminary investigation within three months and
>that the Crown should have handed over its evidence.
>
>       Mr. Rosenthal said after the verdict that a defence lawyer cannot
>begin to put together a defence until the Crown's evidence against
>the client has been received.
>
>       Crown prosecutor Vince Paris expressed surprise at the judge's
>ruling, saying he and Crown lawyer John Cisorio had made solid
>arguments against the stay. He said he will review the written
>reasons before deciding whether to launch an appeal.
>
>       The stay came days before the start of jury selection for Mr.
>Clarke's second trial on the charges. In May, after two months of
>evidence and five days of deliberations, a mistrial was declared
>after the jury became deadlocked and several members refused to
>continue.
>
>       After the mistrial, the Crown stayed charges against two other
>coalition members, who were tried with Mr. Clarke. Gaetan Héroux and
>Stefan Pilipa were charged with participating in a riot.
>
>       The June of 2000 demonstration began peacefully with a march and Mr.
>Clarke asking to be allowed to enter Queen's Park to address the
>legislature about the plight of the poor and homeless.
>
>       When they were refused, protesters knocked down metal barriers to
>reach the front doors. Police brought in their mounted unit to break
>up the demonstrators, who are shown in videotapes played at the
>trial throwing rocks, stones, paint and other projectiles at both
>police and the horses. By the time peace was restored, dozens of
>demonstrators were injured, along with six horses and 42 police
>officers.
>
>       Mr. Clarke said the Crown's refusal to stay the charges against him
>in May, after consulting the Attorney-General's office, was an
>attempt by the government "to demonize and criminalize me." However,
>"at the end of the day, they miscalculated," he said.
>
>       Mr. Clarke said he hopes the new Liberal government will be more
>sympathetic to OCAP's cause. "We hope now to deal with people who
>recognize that social grievances have to be dealt with politically
>and not by unleashing [Toronto Police Chief] Julian Fantino."
>
>       The previous Progressive Conservative government dealt with
>political dissent primarily as a police matter, he said.
>
>       Mr. Clarke said he will now attempt to persuade the new government
>to lift a ban imposed by the Tories that bars him from being on
>Queen's Park property.
>
>       
>http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031029/UOCAPM//?query=%22john+clarke%22
>
>
>       -------------------------------------------
>
>       Oct. 28, 2003. 04:16 PM
>
>       Riot charges stayed against OCAP's Clarke
>       Allegations stem from violent 2000 confrontation at Queen's Park
>
>
>       FROM CANADIAN PRESS
>
>       Charges were stayed today against an anti-poverty activist accused
>of inciting a bloody riot outside the Ontario legislature more than
>three years ago.  An Ontario Superior Court judge stayed the charges
>in the second trial against John Clarke, a chief organizer of the
>Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
>
>       "It's nice to know that finally we've got a situation where I don't
>think (the prosecution) are going to be able to proceed and the
>second trial isn't going to happen," Clarke said in an interview.
>
>       In staying charges against Clarke, the judge agreed with the defence
>argument that the second trial took too long to begin. The first
>trial ended in a mistrial May 11 after two months of evidence and
>five days of jury deliberations.
>
>       The judge will deliver a written reason within the next 10 days,
>``but we think largely on that issue he granted the stay," Clarke
>said, calling it a "victory."
>
>       "What we primarily wanted to do was to mount an effective legal
>defence and prevent them from disrupting our work by jailing people
>and therein lies enough of a victory for us."
>
>       Attorney General Michael Bryant declined today to comment on the
>case. Ministry spokesman Brendan Crawley said the office wants to
>review the judge's written decision before considering an appeal,
>which must be launched in 30 days.
>
>       Clarke, 48, was charged with inciting the bloody riot June 15, 2000,
>outside the legislature that left dozens of demonstrators and as
>many as 42 officers and nine police horses injured.
>
>       The fierce hour-long clash erupted when a delegation from the crowd
>of anti-poverty demonstrators, union supporters and homeless people
>were denied their demand to address the legislature.
>
>       Clarke was arrested a month later after police seized tapes of the
>incident to identify the instigators.
>
>       Also arrested were Gaetan Heroux and Stefan Pilipa, who faced lesser
>charges of participating in a riot.
>
>       In June, a judge ordered a retrial for Clarke but determined it
>wasn't in the public interest or worth the time and expense to put
>Heroux and Pilipa back in court.
>
>       "In the end, this massive operation which involved huge police and
>Crown resources, which was all about vilification and
>criminalization, proved in the end to backfire," Clarke said earlier
>Tuesday outside court.
>
>       "The notion that it (the government) was going to be able to create
>monsters and fiends out of us and criminalize us totally fell
>apart."
>
>       
>http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1067342466109&call_pageid=968256289824&col=968705899037
>
>
>
>       --------------------------------------------------
>       Anti-poverty group declares victory
>       The decision to retry John Clarke was met with anger by activists
>and progressive citizens
>
>        (from
>http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?sh_itm=081919f0624599ba4eb39c043eda14b9&r=1)
>
>             by Krystalline Kraus
>             October 29, 2003
>
>             John Clarke, the final defendant in the June 15, 2003, "riot"
>trial, had his charges stayed yesterday by Superior Court
>Justice Harvey Spiegel, who cited the length of time that had
>passed since a mistrial was called on May 11. Peter Rosenthal,
>Clarke's counsel, argued that his client's right to be brought
>to trial in a reasonable period of time is guaranteed by the
>Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is the third stay of
>charges the court has passed down regarding the trial of the
>OCAP Three - John Clarke, Gaetan Heroux and Stefan Pilipa, all
>with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
>
>             Clarke's charges stem from an anti-poverty demonstration in
>which demonstrators clashed with police in front of the
>Ontario legislature on June 15, 2000. Clarke was charged with
>"counseling to participate in a riot" and "counseling to
>assault police" which could have carried a maximum of five
>years in prison.
>
>             Pilipa and Heroux were also charged for their involvement in
>the June 15 protest ("participation in a riot"), but those
>charges were later stayed when the case ended in a mistrial.
>The first jury drafted a letter to the judge which said that
>they were exhausted, frustrated and unable to reach a
>consensus as to whether the militant anti-poverty protest that
>unfolded on the lawn of Queen's Park was actually a riot.
>Because they could not continue with their deliberations, a
>mistrial was declared.
>
>             While the Crown didn't pursue the charges against Pilipa and
>Heroux, it did attempt to re-try John Clarke alone. The
>decision was met with anger by activists and progressive
>citizens, who deemed the second trial too costly considering
>the money could be better spent on affordable housing.
>
>             The Crown has not declared whether it will appeal the
>decision. "We went into this feeling strong and we were ready
>to fight a second trial, but now we don't have to," Clarke
>said outside court.
>
>             Considering the recent defeat of the Conservatives in
>provincial politics and OCAP's latest victory in court,
>activists are describing the event as a victory: Tories 0:
>OCAP 1.
>
>             Because of the stay in the charges, Clarke is no longer bound
>by bail conditions that prevented him from attending
>demonstrations and associating with members from OCAP.
>
>             Krystalline Kraus is a Toronto writer.
>
>
>
>
>**********************************
>1% 1% 1% 1% 1%....
>For more information and to endorse the 1 % Solution,
>visit our website at www.tdrc.net
>
>Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC)
>6 Trinity Square, Toronto, ON M5G 1B1
>Phone: 416-599-8372 Fax: 416-599-5445
>EMAIL: tdrc at tdrc.net WEBSITE: www.tdrc.net
>

_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail  
http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcomm&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca