San Francisco 8 Update
Press Conference 8:30 - 850 Bryant St
Court @ 9:30 Department 23 - 3rd Floor
SAN FRANCISCO 8 TO ENTER NOT GUILTY PLEAS!
CONSPIRACY CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST 5!
On Friday, January 4th prosecutors in the case announced that they are filing an amended complaint against 7 of the 8 which in effect drops the conspiracy count against five of the men because the statute of limitations (of 3 years on conspiracy) has expired. This was a response to defense motions filed recently that challenged the complaint on the basis of the expired statute of limitations, something which the prosecution should have been aware of all along. According to one of the attorney’s, Stuart Hanlon, “This is the first step in the government’s case falling apart.”
Seven defendants (Richard O’Neal no longer faces charges) will enter NOT GUILTY pleas in Department 23 at 9:30 am.
A recently launched international campaign calls for the dropping of all current charges against the remaining defendants and ending all incidents of torture within the U.S. criminal justice system. The call has already been signed by many prominent supporters of the defendants including Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Danny Glover, actor and human rights activist, Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman and current presidential candidate, and Cindy Sheehan, founder of Camp Casey Peace Institute, human rights activist, and candidate for US Congress.
Members of the San Francisco 8, their attorneys and their supporters will hold a press conference before their scheduled court appearance. Charges against them arise from a 37-year old cold case. The 1971 case was thrown out of the California courts in the 1970s because of the use of statements resulting from police torture. These same unreliable tortured confessions are again being used by the state of California in an attempt to prosecute this case.
