The Abolitionist Action Committee

THE ACTION - STOP EXECUTIONS!
 
From: Abolitionist Action Committee Sheltering for a few days at the Center for Creative Non-Violence, Founded by Mitch Snyder and located in Washington, DC 2:00am, January 18th, 1997
 
18 protesters, who were arrested at the United States Supreme court after the largest action of anti-death penalty civil disobedience in recent US history, spent 10 hours in jail Friday (January 17, 1997). 14 were released on bond, and all were ordered to appear in Federal Court on Saturday morning to enter their pleas.
 
The protesters came to Washington, D.C., from states across America: California, Texas, Kansas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania were only a handful of states represented by those who came to stage the act of civil disobedience.
 
One protester even flew to Washington from Germany, and participated in the action which resulted in his arrest. Other attendees at the anti-death penalty rally came from France, with significant aid from friends in the United Kingdom.
 
The "Stop Executions!" banner was unfurled at 10:02 am on the steps of the Court; police began warning the protesters at 10:06 that they faced arrest if they did not disperse, but the protesters stood their ground, chanting and singing. Police began arresting the protesters one by one, but the banner remained unfurled until the last demonstrator was arrested at 10:23 am.
 
The protesters represented a variety of organizations, including the Kansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation, the Friends Committee to Abolish the Death Penalty, the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Catholic Worker, Equal Justice USA, Pax Christi USA, Campaign to End the Death Penalty and Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
 
Supreme Court police said they could not remember any act of civil disobedience at the Court surrounding the issue of the death penalty, and added that Friday's action resulted in the largest mass arrests at the Court in at least six years.
 
The feeling as this action commenced from the top of the steps, and the sight from the sidewalk below could be described with many adjectives, but the most common word heard was, "Wow!" (Or in the case of the Supreme Court Police, "What happened!?!" ;-) )
 

THE COURT CASE - WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 03/1997)
 
Superior Court Judge Robert Morin convicted 7 of 15 anti-death penalty demonstrators and ordered them each to pay $50 to a fund for crime victims. The demonstrators had unfurled a 30-foot long banner which read "STOP EXECUTIONS !" on the steps of the US Supreme Court on Jan. 17, 1997, the 20th anniversary of America's 1st execution, in which Gary Gilmore was shot to death in the Utah State Penitentiary.
 
The 7 convicted defendants had each represented themselves in court before the judge.
 
Judge Morin then added that he needed more time to sort out legal arguments advanced by the remaining defendants, who claimed that a law prohibiting demonstrations and assemblies on the Supreme Court grounds is unconstitutional because it violates their 1st Amendment right to free speech. The judge said he would rule on their cases on October 6.
 
Wearing buttons and t-shirts expressing their solid opposition to capital punishment, the defendants crammed into a jury box for a 3-day trial that gave them a forum to air their views on the death penalty and freedom of speech and assembly.
 
Testimony during the trial indicated that the Supreme Court Public Information Office and the Supreme Court Police both have no written guidelines governing who may assemble on the Courts steps legally. Testimony also showed that the demonstrators were arrested for refusing to leave the steps after being warned and that they were not arrested for unfurling the banner itself.
 
All of those convicted said that the real focus of the trial was the nature of the US death penalty.
 
But Assistant US Attorney Theodore Marcus repeatedly maintained that the trial was about an illegal demonstration, not capital punishment. He said the restrictions at the Court are necessary to preserve decorum and to shield the justices and their staffs from raucous political debates, although the authorities conceded that the protesters did not threaten anyone or cause any harm.
 
And at the Supreme Court Wednesday, a coalition of groups and a variety of anti-death penalty speakers highlighted a boisterous rally commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Gregg v Georgia court decision which re-instated the death penalty in America.
 
The rally was highlighted by an emotional speech by DC Councilman Sam Johnson, who urged DC residents to unite and work to keep the death penalty out of the District. Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has said she will sponsor legislation to bring the death penalty to Washington, D.C., for anyone convicted of killing a police officer, or anyone convicted of even attempting to kill a police officer.
 
The rally coincided with the 4th Annual Fast and Vigil for Abolition of the Death penalty, sponsored by the Abolitionist Action Committee. Over 40 protesters staged the fast and vigil from June 29-July 2, commemorating the Furman and Gregg Supreme Court decisions.
 
SUPREME COURT DEFENDANTS TO APPEAL CONVICTIONS
 
Yesterday (October 06/1997), seven of eighteen death penalty opponents arrested last January 17th were convicted in D.C. Superior Court for holding a banner on the plaza of the United States Supreme Court. The banner said, "STOP EXECUTIONS!" They held the banner to mark the 20th anniversary of renewed use of capital punishment in this country.
 
Present at court yesterday were defendants Abraham Bonowitz of Los Angeles, Joseph Byrne of Washington, DC, Stephanie Gibson of Baltimore and Kurt Rosenberg of Philadelphia. Three others were excused from the hearing, and eleven more had been previously found guilty.
 
"The Supreme Court, the one institution whose job it is to be the final arbiter of human rights abuses and speech issues in this country, should not be able to exempt itself being criticized for its stance on the death penalty," said Abraham Bonowitz, one of the defendants and part of the Abolitionist Action Committee, an ad-hoc group of individuals concerned about the death penalty. "Our banner was our headline'."
 
In an 18-page opinion, Associate Judge Robert E. Morin, himself a former defense attorney who had represented death row inmates, denied the seven's request to dismiss the charges on the basis of free speech and assembly. Instead, he found each guilty of violating a law which prohibits assembling on Supreme Court grounds, but he "suspended the imposition of sentence" after hearing pre-sentencing statements from each defendant present. He also imposed a $50 fee to be paid by each defendant into a fund for victims of violent crimes in the District of Columbia.