[saymaListserv] Fw: Free Speech appeal set for Sept 1, Columbia

[Mike Shell]

Friends,

Please read and share this account of the Bush Administration's court-sanctioned suppression of free speech in South Carolina.

Blessed Be,
Michael.

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: SC Progressive Network <network at scpronet.com>
To: network at scpronet.com
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 23:18:09 -0400
Subject: Free Speech appeal set for Sept 1, Columbia
Message-ID: <p06020437bd56fb54c10b@[151.213.89.213]>

August 28, 2004

For Immediate Release:

BURSEY FREE SPEECH APPEAL SEPT 1

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 11am, Courtroom 2, Perry Federal Court House, 
Richland and Lincoln St., Columbia (behind to the federal building at 
Assembly and Laurel)

         Brett Bursey will return to federal court Sept. 1 to appeal 
to U.S. District Court Judge Cameron Curie that his January 
conviction under the Threatening the President statute be overturned.
        "I appealed the conviction because the Bush Administration's 
unconstitutional use of the Secret Service to stifle dissent needs 
some judicial restraint," Bursey said. The trial is scheduled for 
11am. Both sides have been given 30 minutes to make their case.
        Attorney Lewis Pitts was joined by the Center for 
Constitutional Rights, a 40-year-old group dedicated to preserving 
rights granted by the Constitution, to prepare Bursey's appeal.
        "This case has national significance because it is the only 
time a peaceful protester has been charged by the federal government 
for refusing to be corralled into a 'free speech zone.'" Pitts said. 
"The government is unconstitutionally protecting Mr. Bush's political 
security by keeping protesters out of sight and out of mind."
        Jeff Fogel, lead counsel for CCR, said "The use of this 
federal statute for the first time in Mr. Bursey's case opens up a 
whole new area of concern about the Bush administration's wholesale 
assault on civil liberties."
        Bursey, director of the South Carolina Progressive Network, 
refused to go to the approved free speech zone during a Bush visit to 
Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 24, 2002. Bursey was arrested by local police 
for holding a "No War for Oil" sign in an area where hundreds of 
Republican supporters, many with signs, were gathering
        "When the arresting officer told me that the content of my 
sign was the problem, I decided to take a stand. I thought that if 
everyone backed down in the face of this foolishness, we soon 
wouldn't recognize our country," Bursey said.
        Four months after the arrest, state trespassing charges were 
dropped and US Attorney Strom Thurmond Jr. indicted Bursey under the 
federal statute that governs threats to the President. Bursey was 
denied a jury trial and was found guilty by a federal magistrate. He 
was sentenced to a $500 fine January 6.
        "I hope everyone who believes that America is a free speech 
zone will show up Sept. 1 to stand with me against this 
administration's nationwide assault on our constitutional rights," 
Bursey said.

###
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South Carolina Progressive Network
POB 8325 Columbia SC 29202
803-808-3384 * fax: 803-808-3781
network at scpronet.com
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