Update after the third pretrial hearing

By Skip Schiel, written on November 1, 2005

We, the Cambridge 7, had our third pre-trial hearing on Thursday, October 27, with no conclusions. The prosecution couldn't find the statute under which we'd been arrested, so they dropped that charge and initiated a new one, failure to disperse. Paradoxically, this carries a harsher penalty, some jail time along with a fine. Not guilty your honor. And thus we have another hearing scheduled for December 13, again at the Cambridge District Courthouse in East Cambridge. This to gain more access to city-Army information. Indeed, the mills of the gods do grind slowly.

Our motions of discovery have not yet really unearthed much of value or that is surprising. The city has disclosed some info but it feels to me diluted and shredded, not a true and full rendering of agreements between army and city.

Our lawyers have the police-made video tape and I wish to see this. Apparently, based on a transcription and report by our lawyer, the police issued the warning 3 times, and did say move to the trees, tho neither Joe nor I heard this, while Jaime did.

One small conclusion for me was perhaps finally sorting out my story.

My gut feeling is that this affair is incrementally heading toward a jury trial, hopefully not impeding my Israel-Palestine travel plans for next spring.

My earlier writing and photography on this topic

United for Justice with Peace

American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts

Cambridge Peace Commission