SALON

Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 9:19 PM UTC

Two grand jury resisters walk free

Kteeo Olejnik and Matthew Duran were imprisoned for five months for refusing to talk to a Seattle grand jury

By

Topics: Seattle Grand Jury, grand jury resistors, Anarchism, Northwest, may day, Activism,

Two grand jury resisters walk free A support poster for Kteeo Olejnik (Committee Against Political Repression)

Two anarchists from the Pacific Northwest endured five months in federal custody, often in solitary confinement, without conviction or charges, for simply staying silent. As we noted last year, Kteeo Olejnik and Matthew Duran were among activists subpoenaed by a Seattle grand jury understood to be investigating property damage exacted on the city during May 1 demonstrations last year. Olejnik and Duran, following a tradition of activist and anarchist solidarity, publicly announced their refusal to cooperate with the grand jury. For their silence, they were sent to SeaTac detention center. On Thursday afternoon the two grand jury resisters were freed.

Another young woman, 24-year-old Leah Lynn Plante, was also taken into federal custody last year when she refused to talk. Unlike Olejnik and Duran, however, Plante was released after one week. Anarchist networks following the case feared that Plante’s resolve broke and that she had agreed to cooperate when faced with the reality of a potential 18 months or more in prison — the details of Plante’s case remain unknown. Both Olejnik and Duran maintained their resistance and walked free Thursday without having shared information with the authorities on other Northwest activists. Their release came after a federal judge agreed to a request for release issued by Olejnik and Duran’s attorneys.

The judge’s ruling (in full here) noted:

Both Ms. Olejnik and Mr. Duran have provided extensive declarations explaining that although they wish to end their confinement, they will never end their confinement by testifying. The court finds their declarations persuasive.

The judge’s comments explicitly note the physical and psychological toll of federal custody and the extensive solitary confinement to which the two detainees were subjected. The ruling reads as an unexpected testament to the activists’ resilience and the prosecutors’ punitive overreach:

Their physical health has deteriorated sharply and their mental health has also suffered from the effects of solitary confinement. Their confinement has cost them; they have suffered the loss of jobs, income, and important personal relationships. They face the possibility of criminal convictions for contempt… both she and Mr. Duran have nonetheless refused to testify.

“After both are released, though, they still could be convicted of contempt of court,” the Seattle Times reported. As I explained last year, the imprisonment without charge of grand jury resisters is legally permitted by the peculiar structure of grand juries:

As was the case with the Northwest grand juries resistors, the grand jury can grant a subpoenaed individual personal immunity; Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination are therefore protected, but silence is not. In these instances, refusal to speak can be considered civil contempt. Non-cooperators can be jailed for the 18-month length of the grand jury.

A fourth resister, Maddy Pfeiffer, who was taken into custody late last year, remains at SeaTac detention center and continues to refuse to talk. As the resister dictum goes, “No one talks, everyone walks.”

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 7 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Guantanamo defense lawyer found dead of apparent suicide
113 points114 points | 10 comments
vote
Alex Jones is in the business of selling fear and business is a'boomin.
88 points89 points | 53 comments
vote
Just when I thought the raids were over, California dispensary crackdown resumes in San Jose
59 points60 points | 5 comments
vote
"Contrary to the myth of the happy, apple-cheeked great-great-grandmother, cooking has rarely been seen as a source of fulfillment, historically speaking." DIY domesticity, femivores, and refutations on the impacts of feminism on fast-food culture.
49 points50 points | 78 comments
vote
Are millennials delusional? New research suggests that members of "Generation Me" are warped by a profound sense of entitlement
32 points33 points | 49 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations