Works In Progress - June 2007 - Tacoma prosecutors busy themselves with Port cases

TACOMA -- An additional pretrial hearing has been scheduled for twenty defendants who appeared in court from the port militarization resistance (pmr) protests that roiled the Port of Tacoma two months ago. Tacoma Municipal Court Judge Pro Tem Karl D. Haugh rebuked city attorneys for failing to provide video and other evidence to defense counsel, necessitating a further hearing.

The pretrial hearing has been scheduled for 1:30 pm on June 8, in Tacoma's City-County Building.

Beginning on Mar. 4 and lasting until the USNS Soderman sailed for Kuwait from Commencement Bay on Mar. 14, the protests at the origin of these cases involved hundreds of American citizens who objected to the use of the publicly-owned Port of Tacoma to ship vehicles and other equipment for the US Army's 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division to Iraq, prior to the departure of the soldiers themselves.

The 4/2 Brigade is one of two Stryker brigades currently based at nearby Fort Lewis.

In April, the brigade's soldiers followed the equipment to Iraq. Some of them are already dead, including 19-year-old Aaron Gautier and 20-year-old Jonathan Hamm.

About 107 Fort Lewis soldiers have died in Iraq to date.

None of those details was mentioned in court on May 23rd, or appeared in documents connected to the case, but the soldiers or others like them were in the minds of all of those present, as people throughout the United States ponder how they can influence a government whose leaders are refusing to respond to a public mandate to bring the illegal, immoral, and disastrous war in Iraq to an end.

The Port of Tacoma protest was the largest yet in a spreading anti-Iraq war port militarization resistance movement that began in May 2006 at the Port of Olympia and spread to the Port of Grays Harbor, in Aberdeen in late April and, last weekend, to the Port of Oakland in California.

In all, thirty-six people were arrested during protests against the Port of Tacoma's military shipments in March. On Mar. 11, twenty-three protesters were arrested in what was perhaps the largest act of civil disobedience in Tacoma's history. Other arrests occurred when police unleashed tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters in what videographer Joe La Sac called a "police riot." The twenty summoned to Tacoma Municipal Court on Wednesday were arrested at five separate times and places.

Other cases continue to percolate in the system. Tom McCarthy of United for Peace of Pierce County, for example, was arrested when he violated an unconstitutional bag-and-backpack ban on Mar. 9.

Many local observers are asking why the City of Tacoma is wasting valuable resources that would be better spent fighting dangerous offenders. Some have speculated that a number of civil cases against the City of Tacoma stemming from the pmr protests may be a factor.

Is Tacoma improperly trying to protect itself from lawsuits by pursuing criminal convictions in cases that have already been dismissed by Pierce County prosecutors? In a heated exchange overheard Wednesday morning outside Room 233, where Judge Haugh was presiding, Assistant City Attorney Jean Hayes was heard insisting that it was she and she alone who decided which defendants would be prosecuted; Hayes denied knowing who had filed civil charges against the City of Tacoma.

About twenty supporters were in attendance on May 23, including Olympia City Councilmember TJ Johnson.

Most of the hour-long hearing before Judge Haugh dealt with evidentiary issues. The two attorneys representing the City of Tacoma, Charles Lee and Pedro Chou, began by announcing that they could still not provide video in the possession of the Tacoma Police Department. It should be ready "by the end of the week," Mr. Lee said. "If we don't get video, we will be in a position to dismiss some cases."

A 90-day-from-arraignment speedy trial deadline looms on Jun. 13 for the defendants arraigned on Mar. 15. Defense counsel Lawrence A. Hildes of Bellingham and Legrand Jones of Olympia ruled out any willingness to grant a speedy trial waiver.

Pro Tem Judge Karl D. Haugh gave city attorneys Lee and Chou until May 29th to mail defense counsel copies of police videos taken at the protests that were requested in discovery motions months ago. Judge Haugh also ordered Lee and Chou to produce the names of those who were in charge of riot police units deployed at the Port at the time of the arrests. The names of commanders were mysteriously redacted from copies provided to defense counsel last week.

"I'll talk to Sgt. [James] Barrett," said Mr. Lee.

"But it's not Sgt. Barrett who makes the decision," Judge Haugh replied. "Why is this redacted? Defendants do have a right to command structure and rules of engagement. If it's a human being, or rules or procedures, I do think it's discoverable."

Judge Haugh instructed Lee and Chou -- who suggested that "security" concerns may have led authorities to conceal the identities -- to come up with names: "I'm ordering that this be made available to counsel."

"Unredacted?" Mr. Lee asked.

"Unredacted!" replied Judge Haugh, who speculated aloud that a connection to the Department of Homeland Security may somehow be involved.

Earlier, Attorney Hildes had explained to the judge the importance of the issue: "These people have been arrested for violating rules of engagement which do not exist in writing, and the names of those who would know [what those rules were] are redacted."

Documents that were released to defendants reveal that the Tacoma Police Department used "undercover officers" to spy on activists in Olympia. A report by tpd Lt. Alan Roberts, for example, states that on Mar. 12, "At approximately 2100 hours, see case report for specific times, our undercover officers advised of 35 anarchist [sic] leaving Olympia northbound on I-5 en-route [sic] to Tacoma. About thirty minutes later, our undercover officers advised of another 35 -- 40 anarchist [sic] leaving Olympia northbound on I-5."

Police spying on citizens guilty only of exercising their constitutional rights is also expected to be an issue in the civil suits being prepared against the City of Tacoma.

Mark Jensen is a member of United for Peace of Pierce County and of the faculty of Pacific Lutheran University.