[news] OCAP KICKS OLD CITY HALL'S ASS!

[resist admin]

From: mick <mick at nefac.net>
To: mick at nefac.net
Subject: [APC-Discuss] OCAP KICKS OLD CITY HALL'S ASS!
Date: 08 Apr 2003 22:25:39 -0500

from http://www.ocap.ca

OCAP KICKS OLD CITY HALL'S ASS!

OCAP had two resounding victories in the Old City Hall courthouse on Monday,
March 31. Tucker, an OCAP member on trial for theft had a charge dismissed,
and Magaly San Martin, up on charges relating to the June 15th 'riot' had
her's dropped!


Tucker was on the 3rd day of trial for the charge of Theft, relating to the
disappearance of a box of standardized tests and their subsequent leak over
the Internet in the fall of 2001. The Ontario Government and Crown
prosecuting the case have put the cost of this leak as high as $17 Million,
and have been pointing the finger at OCAP, both publicly and in the courts,
ever since the leak hit the news.

The Crown's case was obviously weak from the beginning, solely based on
motive (something that the defendant in no way denied) and opportunity.
However, from the start, the allegation of opportunity became less and less
convincing. The Detective who had investigated the case was forced to admit
that he didn't look into all the possible suspects, while the Defense cut
major holes in the Crown's proposed timeline of events (i.e. when the tests
were actually heisted).

When the Crown's case ended midday on April 1, the defense put forward a
motion to dismiss based on lack of presented evidence. While this motion is
often used, it is rarely effective. However, due to the critical lack of any
shred of real evidence presented against Tucker, the Judge was forced to
dismiss the charges without the defense even needing to present its side. The
dismissal of Tucker's charges should be viewed in tandem with the previous
dropping of charges against the co-excused in this case, Karen Silverwomyn.
Karen's charges were dropped only weeks before trial, again for lack of
evidence. For the courts to drag these two through set-dates, reporting,
conditions and more when any legal authority could've predicted the outcome
we've seen these past weeks is abominable. After one and a half years, this
legal vindication rings hollow, and while we view this as a victory, we know
that our real victories come to us on the streets, and not in their
courtrooms.


Talk about stretching out ludicrous charges. Magaly San Martin finally had
charges relating to the 'riot' at Queen's Park - an event which occurred
almost 3 years ago - withdrawn after incredible delay by the State. The crown
failed to get transcripts to the defense in order to make final arguments,
supposedly because the court worker responsible for preparing them has
been "ill" all this time. After 5 or 6 times of rescheduling dates they
finally stopped their stall tactics and dropped the charges.

But again, this acquittal leaves something to be desired. The charges against
Magaly should've been thrown out years ago, following her experience in bail
court in front of an outwardly racist Justice of the Peace who said, "maybe
she thinks she can get away with that kind of thing in Chile, but in Canada
we don't allow this sort of thing." The J.P. followed his comment by ordering
this community legal worker with no criminal record detained in order
to "maintain confidence in the administration of justices."

The "administration of justice..." is a farce. Just like we see targeted
policing in the streets, we continue to see targeted prosecution in the
courts. And as our members and supporters are dragged through the legal swamp
that portrays itself as "justice", we are determined to continue the fight on
this front.