On Friday, June 4, just after 7PM, an all-white six
person jury found 16-year-old antiracist Ryan Lang innocent of "Riot" and all
other charges. The jury deliberated for less than an hour after the three-day trial. The
verdict drew a burst of applause from the crowded courtroom gallery as it was read.
Ryan is a standard-bearer for bravery and
loyalty in the face of this witchhunt. He was charged for his loyalty to his friends and
to the antiracist movement for refusing to be a police-snitch. This loyalty was
repaid to Ryan in the broad and diverse support he received in his trial; his supporters
were young and old and of all races.
HUMILIATING DEFEAT FOR THE PROSECUTOR
It is an outrage that the Washtenaw
Co prosecutors office, the Ann Arbor Police Department and the Ann Arbor city government
spent almost a year and tens of thousands of dollars trying to frame now 16-year-old Ryan
Lang with a 10-year felony. The prosecutions case was so weak that when, after less
than an hour of deliberation, the jury emerged from the jury chamber their first response
was: "The prosecution had no evidence." These charges never should have
been brought; this case never should have gone forward.
The prosecutions case was so
pathetically weak that they put the charge "Disturbing the Peace" (!!) in
as a lesser included charge. The jury to the shame and humiliation of
prosecutor Jennifer H. Lazarus, detective Tom Kolpacki and their respective organizations
refused to convict Ryan even of this thoroughly petty misdemeanor
charge.
TO THE YOUTH OF
ANN ARBOR:
If you are arrested or stopped by the police use
your rights REMAIN SILENT. Give the police ONLY your basic ID
information. Ryan, to his credit and good fortune, did not talk to the police, he is
now free; this must serve as a lesson to other youth. |
The political witchhunt
character of the prosecution took the form of an effort as relentless as it was
ineffective to convict Ryan on the basis of guilt-by-association. Prosecutor Jennifer
H. Lazarus, made up for having what jurors called "no evidence" with resort to
pointless, colorful stories about the events of May 9, 1998 all in a demagogic attempt to
prejudice the jury. Time after time during the trial, the prosecutor raised events at
which Ryan was not present and allegations with which Ryan had nothing to do.
"WITNESSES" WHO DID NOT WITNESS RYAN
It seems unbelievable, but in
addition to this "weakness" of lacking any evidence whatsoever, the prosecution
also did not present a single witness who claimed to have seen Ryan do anything
illegal.
The prosecution
"witnesses" (they witnessed other events and other people,
but not Ryan Lang), all but two of whom were police, did their best to
prejudice the jury with the horror
the TERROR
of The Great Ann
Arbor Riot of 1998 all 3 minutes and ten broken windows of it!
The two non-police prosecution
"witnesses" were members of the "Peace Team": Reverend William
Ingraham and Betty Kemnitz. These hypocrite proponents of "non-violence" do not
consider it violence to aid police in their effort to lock up a 16-year-old on a 10-year
felony.
The Reverend William Ingraham spun a
ridiculous yarn about how he was trapped by antiracists and feared for his life (!!).
Through his flaky foolishness he harmed the credibility of the prosecution case. Betty
Kemnitz, despite serving as a prosecution witness was a positive help to the defense by
making unequivocally clear that the wrath of the antiracists was not directed at the
"Peace Team".
Readers should keep in mind that neither
of these two "witnesses" ever set eyes on Ryan Lang they were brought
in by the police and prosecutors office only because the prosecution thought
they would help paint the governments false picture of the shutdown of the KKK rally
as maliciousness and mayhem for its own sake.
Detective Tom Kolpacki, after lying to a
then 15 year old trying to get him to incriminate himself after trying to ruin a
15-year-olds life with police lies gave testimony at Ryans trial. At
the trial that was to decide this young mans fate, Detective Tom Kolpacki had the
audacity to call his lies a "trick". Quite a police "trick" it
would be to lock up a young man for years of his life with deceit and lies
STRENGTH OF THE DEFENSE CASE
In sharp contrast to the prosecution
case, the defense case was truthful and compelling. A long and diverse series of witnesses
all testified to the central proposition of the defense: there was no riot on May 9. The
defense case took the opportunity to defend not only Ryan, but the entire shutdown of the
KKK rally. Witness after witness testified to the fact that the only time they observed
anything like "public terror and alarm" (one of the legal elements of the
"Riot" charge) was when the police fired teargas into the crowd. The witnesses
communicated the breadth and passion of opposition to the KKK organizing in Ann Arbor.
DEFENSE WITNESSES
On Friday, June 4, six witnesses took
the stand for the defense starting with Ann Arbor mathematician and computer software
designer, Rudy List and his 10-year old daughter Emma.
Rudy and Emma testified to having been
scared only by the actions of the police on the day of the rally and to having seen clouds
of teargas billowing down the street. They testified to the impact on their inter-racial
family of the KKK coming to rally and recruit in their hometown. Rudy said that his
children (who are mixed Asian and white) feared that they would not be allowed to live
together as a family anymore.
Graduating Community High School senior
Matt Brown testified to the intensity of discussion in his school about how to respond to
the KKK rally. He testified as to why he decided to go to the city hall
counter-demonstration rather than to the city-sponsored Wheeler Park diversion rally, by
saying that black people had won the right to sit at the front of the bus when Rosa Parks
made a confrontation at the front of the bus, not by holding a protest at the back of the
bus.
Erika Dowdell, a black University of
Michigan freshman, testified to the fact that there was no terror and no alarm among the
public around the city hall until the police fired their teargas.
"Peace Team" member and U of M
linguistics graduate student, Stephanie Lindeman testified that she was not in fear during
the rally.
Jewish hospital worker Donna Stern,
testified that she was up on the 2nd floor promenade of city hall and that she thought
that when the protesters went up to the promenade it would give the police an excuse to
shut down the KKK rally which it did.
On Thursday, the defense had called
swimming coach and life-long Ann Arbor resident Quincy Brown, a 22-year-old black man.
Quincy testified to the pride of the protesters in being an integrated group of people
standing so resolutely against the KKK.
The defense case showed the support in
the Ann Arbor community for fighting racism seriously.
HEARING ON EVIDENCE DESTROYED BY POLICE
On Friday, July 16, at 1:30PM at the
downtown courthouse in Judge Mattsons courtroom, the misdemeanor defendants who are
accused of having damaged a chain link rental fence will have an evidentiary hearing. This
is another element of the witchhunt prosecutions for which there is no evidence
whatsoever.
Given the fact that the only physical
evidence in these cases was destroyed with the authorization of the police, the
evidentiary hearing to determine whether and if so, when, how, where and by whom the fence
was damaged should prove very difficult for the prosecution. All antiracists and
all who care about civil liberties should attend.
Picket and Attend the Evidentiary Hearing!
Friday, July 16, 1PM
Downtown Courthouse
(Main & Huron, Ann Arbor)