Instead of fireworks, however, the assembled crowd got administrative process and book keeping.
The latest hearing of the eight people arrested and charged with conspiracy to riot and to commit property damage at the Republican National Convention in 2008 started more than an hour late. And though the court calendar blocked off all day for the hearing, it was over by lunch.
“The day did get kind of boring,” conceded Bruce Nestor, a defense attorney for Monica Bicking.
Boring maybe, but there were some developments:
- Warner ordered both sides back to her courtroom the first week in May to hear testimony on several motions filed by the defense that sought to dismiss evidence gathered by police, alleging it was collected illegally;
- The judge confirmed the trial will start Oct. 25;
- The two sides agreed to work together on a jury questionnaire that will be passed out to potential jurors before the trial starts; and,
- The judge set a timeline for both sides to have their witnesses and exhibits set before the trial starts.
The RNC 8 won a motion late last year to stand trial together, represented by eight different attorneys. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case and alleges that all eight defendants conspired to use weapons as part of their actions and acted together to incite riots and property damage in downtown St. Paul during the convention.
The defense admits their clients were planning to disrupt and protest the convention and said they provided medical care, communications, food and places to stay for visiting protestors. But the RNC 8 are not guilty of conspiring to do anything and are not responsible for the extensive damage to local businesses that occurred during the convention, their lawyers say.
There are still some details to be settled before the case starts. The defense is asking for more information on the prosecution’s case and is asking for some evidence to be thrown out because they allege it was gathered illegally. Judge Warner made no rulings on any of the motions, some of which were not heard because witnesses were not available. Those issues could be settled at the May court date.
Defense attorney Jordan Kushner argued that a jury questionnaire was necessary because of the high-profile nature of the case. He said publicity surrounding the case could turn potential jurors against the defendants before the trial begins.
“The state claims that the defendants are anarchists,” Kushner said. “We need to see if the jurors can put their political biases aside.”
There was some argument on the issue of discovery. The defense asked for more information on the state’s witnesses, which the prosecution rebuffed. Assistant County Attorney Derek Fitch said the state will comply with state law and provide a witness and exhibit list, but that it would not provide a playbook of its case. He noted his office has turned over more than 20,000 pages of documents so far.
“Up until the trial gets going, we can’t say for sure who we are going to call or what exhibits we are going to use,” Fitch said. “We’re not obligated to present a list of questions.”
Kushner said that the state has had a year and a half to prepare its case and that it’s “unfathomable they don’t have a witness list. That’s inexcusable.”
Warner said the state has fulfilled its discovery obligation so far and told both sides to complete discovery two weeks before trial and have a list of witnesses and exhibits set two months before trial.
The defense is also asking for more information regarding payments made to confidential informants, who were used by law enforcement to gather information on the RNC 8. The informants will testify in trial and were paid tens of thousands of dollars.
Defense attorney Nestor said the prosecution should turn over a contractual agreement between law enforcement and the informants and a paper trail on payments made. Nestor is asking for a more detailed breakdown of when payments were made and for what by both the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.
“Our concern is some of these informants would be paid after the trial is resolved,” he said. “In order to keep the payments coming, you have an incentive as an informant to dramatize the threat level. Especially if you are getting paid more if you get a conviction.”
Assistant County Attorney Heidi Westby said she has asked the FBI for some of the information the defense requested and will do so again. She also said some of the information the Nestor is asking for does not exist.
Logistical concerns
From the moment the RNC 8 were arrested and charged, the defense attorneys have argued that political pressure put on the Ramsey County Sheriff and Ramsey County Attorney’s Office in the aftermath of the much publicized protests at the convention left law enforcement looking for someone to blame for what happened on the streets of downtown St. Paul. Their clients are the fall guys, the defense argued.At one point, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher walked into the courtroom and leaned up against the wall near the door. His arrival drew taps on the shoulder and whispers from some of the RNC 8’s supporters.
The issue of courtroom decorum also came up at the hearing. One of the prosecution’s arguments against a joint trial was the logistical concerns with all eight defendants in the courtroom at once. At Tuesday’s hearing, the defendants sat in the jury box with their attorneys, while the prosecution sat at a table facing the judge. At one point, Warner stopped and singled out someone in the jury box for talking while Fitch was addressing her.
“If you want to laugh, react or chat then you can do it in a separate trial,” Warner said. “I am not going to put up with this kind of behavior from lawyers and defendants.”
The defendants and their supporters gathered at a nearby church for a meal after the proceedings. Defense attorney Ted Dooley said the main concern for everyone involved is that the trial run smoothly in October
“There was a lot of preliminary skirmishing, some balancing and maneuvering going on,” Dooley said. “Look: You’ve got 12 attorneys there’s going to be some scrambling around. But getting a trial date was huge. Getting those deadlines and another court appearance on the calendar for May, that was big, too. It was a productive day.”
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