Salon.com > Grand Jury

Virginia GOPer will testify at grand jury in McDonnell probe

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:10:00 +0000

Republican Virginia Delegate David Ramadan confirmed to the Washington Post that he was subpoenaed and will testify in a federal grand jury hearing, related to an FBI investigation into Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.

“I’m cooperating and look forward to continuing to cooperate 100 percent,” Ramadan said.

From the Washington Post:

The Washington Post has previously reported that the FBI has been conducting interviews about the relationship between McDonnell (R) and his wife and the chief executive of a dietary supplement company who paid for the catering at the 2011 wedding of the governor’s daughter. The agents are exploring whether McDonnell assisted the company in exchange for gifts.

Ramadan’s subpoena, however, is the first public indication of the impaneling of a grand jury to review evidence in the McDonnells’ case — a significant escalation in the investigation.

The hearing will take place in July.

Uzbekistan national arrested in Idaho on federal terrorism charges

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:27:00 +0000

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. authorities in Idaho said Thursday they have arrested an Uzbekistan national on federal terrorism charges.

Federal prosecutors said Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, was arrested in Boise on Thursday after a grand jury issued a three-count indictment as part of a terrorism investigation.

The indictment charges Kurbanov with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. The indictment also alleges he possessed an unregistered explosive device.

A separate federal grand jury in Utah also returned an indictment charging Kurbanov with distributing information about explosives, bombs and weapons of mass destruction.

He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boise at 9 a.m. Friday.

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.

Possible legal errors in Ramarley Graham case

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:45:00 +0000

According to Ryan Devereaux in the Guardian, the judge presiding over the case against the police officer who shot dead Bronx teen Ramarley Graham is "officially concerned" that legal errors occurred prior to the indictment of former NYPD officer Richard Haste.

Judge Steven Barrett expressed concern having reviewed the minutes of the grand jury proceedings that led to Haste's indictment. In an incident that helped fuel widespread anti-NYPD sentiment and bolstered the movement challenging stop and frisk, Graham was shot dead in his grandmother's Bronx bathroom. Police reports that Graham had been armed were challenged when no weapon was found at the scene. Haste has pleaded not guilty to charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter.

As Devereaux reported, Judge Barrett's concern resides in the fact that grand jurors, who moved to indict Haste, "may have received erroneous instructions during their consideration of the case." Via the Guardian:

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:

Can you face charges for reposting a link?

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:26:00 +0000

Barrett Brown, the once self-appointed spokesman to hacker collective Anonymous, was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on 12 charges related to the infamous Stratfor hack. Unlike activist Jeremy Hammond, who could face life in prison for his alleged role hacking the private intelligence firm, Brown's charges specifically pertain to the sharing of information, a development that has perturbed journalists and bloggers who regularly report on hackers and hacked information.

Brown faces a host of charges, including a number relating to online threats made to an FBI agent unrelated to the Stratfor case. Within the newly announced grand jury indictment, however, Brown faces a charge for copying a link to a downloadable archive of compromised data -- specifically credit card information -- from one Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel and pasting it into another.

The indictment states:

Grand jury resistor Leah-Lynn released from prison

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 19:57:00 +0000

As Salon reported last week, 24-year-old Portland anarchist Leah-Lynn Plante was imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with a federal grand jury. Like two other Northwest activists incarcerated earlier this year, Plante had not been charged or convicted with a crime but was nonetheless jailed for her silence.

Plante's support network announced Friday that she was released from federal prison a couple of days ago after spending a week in solitary confinement. The announcement says that information is scarce and that Plante, having believed she would face 18 months behind bars, is too traumatized to speak to the media. For unknown reasons, the announcement notes, Plante was classified as "different" from the two other Seattle grand jury resistors also taken in to federal custody in recent months. Matt Duran and Kteeo Olejnik remain incarcerated. Little is known about Duran's prison conditions, but it is believed he has been kept largely in solitary confinement. The statement from Plante's support network Friday noted that the freed grand jury resistor "urges people to step up support for Matt and Kteeo on all fronts."