On August 28, several protesters charged with crimes from the LEIU (Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit) protests in Seattle on June 2, 2003 attended a court hearing at the King County Jail. Attorneys Larry Hildes and Paul Richmond represented the protesters/defendants in Judge Ron A. Mamiya's courtroom. Court proceedings went on as usual, but outside in the halls, approximately 40 protesters sat, talked, and waited to be heard. When it was time for the LEIU cases, the audience seating filled with anarchist activists, peace protesters, parents of the accused, college students from Olympia, and more, all showing support for LEIU protesters.

Hildes explained to the judge that his clients had their video cameras, videotapes, personal identification, student identification, credit cards, and phone cards taken from them by police on June 2 and they would like their things back. (Outside, after the hearing, one defendant said the police also took his ice cream card, which is one cone away from a free cone...) The judge said that Hildes needed to talk to the prosecutor about the missing items. So, he turned to the prosecutor, and asked for the defendants' things back. The prosecutor argued that some of those items might be held as evidence.

Some protesters in the seating area in the front row began to hold 8 1/2" x 11" pieces of paper with words like "Police Accountability" on them, up to the window so the judge, prosecutor and others inside the courtroom could see them. The judge ordered the signs be put down. Hildes said to the judge that at the last hearing, the judge said they could have signs. The judge said he would not let anyone make a circus out of the court, and said he would not allow the defendants' support or attorneys to "badger" him or "anyone else." He then said "I will respect you if you respect the system, otherwise you're out the door." Hildes asserted that no one was disrupting anything. The judge said he would not talk about it. Signs went down, court business continued on.

Later outside, Hildes said he was requesting intelligence files, and videos taken by governmental agencies during the LEIU protests, as well as records from the Seattle Police Department (SPD), Washington State Patrol, King County Sheriff's Department, the LEIU itself, and many smaller police departments such as Tukwila and Redmond...all of whom participated in the LEIU protests. Hildes also has requested the "use of force reports" from the SPD, which are required to have been filed when that type of weaponry is used in streets on citizenry.

Jarrod, one of the accused LEIU protesters, is said to have charged police with his front, yet it was the back of his shirt that was drenched in pepper spray. Attorney Paul Richmond collected the litter left behind in the streets after police attacked protesters on June 2. He found remnants of what look like "Stinger" grenades and rounds, little metal grenades with pellets inside that sting people. He found the tubes left from what appear to be concussion grenades; he also picked up a few unexploded Co2 pellets.

Police have said protesters threw bottles and ball bearings to provoke this riotous police attack, but Richmond could not find any ball bearings or glass in the street. What he did find was deposits, casings, pellets, and remnants of chemical/tactical weapons that could kill a small child or dog if picked up and eaten.

Note: Do not let pets or children touch little red pellets on Seattle streets after riots, they may be unexploded chemical weapons, left behind by careless police.

The trial date set for protest defendants is November 18.

Copyright Kirsten Anderburg 2003