Salon.com > federal prosecutors

New York activist faces jail for his silence

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:29:00 +0000

During Occupy's most resonant days in New York in late 2011 and early 2012, regular marches and protests led typically to at least a handful of arrests. Those nights, tired bodies would trickle out of lower Manhattan's central booking, slapped with minor charges, into the arms of supportive friends and activist allies holding vigil outside. Gerald "Jerry" Koch, now 24, was already an old hand at jail support for activists by that time. His suited, skinny frame haunted court buildings until the early hours following arrests, helping gather bail funds and legal support. Under Koch's vigilant, pestering watch, the holding cells filled with political protesters would be emptied as soon as possible.

Now Koch -- my longtime friend, Jerry -- faces up to a year and a half in jail himself. He is the latest anarchist in the U.S. to have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury. He will not cooperate and his silence could land him months in federal custody, without charge or conviction for a crime. I have written at some length in recent months about the federal grand jury system, which I describe as one of the blackest boxes in the judicial arsenal. I noted, for example, how four anarchists in the Pacific Northwest were jailed for resisting cooperation with a Seattle grand jury, believed to be investigating property damage wrought against the city on May Day 2012.

New claims of prosecutor misconduct in Aaron Swartz case

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:26:00 +0000

Since Aaron Swartz's suicide in January, severe criticism has been directed at the federal prosecutors who brought hefty felony charges against the technologist. While I have written here previously on how the prosecutor's actions in Swartz's case reflect a broader tendency of prosecutorial overreach and activist targeting in this country, recent revelations have shed light on the specific misconduct claims levied at Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann, the lead prosecutor in Swartz's case.

In a letter (made public Wednesday) to an internal Justice Department ethics unit from January 2013, Swartz’s lawyers argue that Heymann engaged in prosecutorial misconduct by "withholding key evidence from Swartz’s defense team and overreaching in his attempt to coerce Aaron into waiving his right to trial." A press release regarding the letter to the ethics unit noted:

Aaron Swartz’s grand jury: State-enforced betrayal

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:35:00 +0000

When journalist Quinn Norton was presented with a subpoena in 2011 to appear in front of a federal grand jury, she "had to Google grand jury to find out what it was." She did not know that in a small, closed hearing, federal prosecutors would push her to inadvertently help incriminate her dearest friend and then-lover -- Aaron Swartz.

I have written at some length about how federal grand juries have been used as fishing expeditions to indict activists, breeding distrust and despair around those investigated or called as witnesses. Norton's essay published in the Atlantic Monday on being a "reluctant witness" in the federal prosecution against Swartz bears out this point with a painful and important personal account.

Norton details the mind-set that had her agree to cooperate with the government's questioning ("the mechanics of snitching") with little understanding of what her testimony might mean for Swartz's case:

Federal justice and Aaron Swartz’s death

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:45:00 +0000

Aaron Swartz was not the first brilliant young technologist to commit suicide while facing prosecution by the U.S. government for cybercrimes. In 2008, a young hacker named Jonathan James killed himself when he was named as a suspect in a case brought by the very same prosecutor who zealously pursued Swartz -- Massachusetts Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann.

Unlike Swartz, James left a note. "I have no faith in the 'justice' system. Perhaps my actions today, and this letter, will send a stronger message to the public. Either way, I have lost control over this situation, and this is my only way to regain control." He had been incarcerated for cybercrimes as a teenager. Meanwhile Swartz's family and partner directed some blame for his suicide last week at "a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach."