Tag Archives: Mitch Morrissey

BREAKING: Denver jury nullification advocate Mark Iannicelli arrested again

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DENVER, COLORADO- Activists distributing jury nullification literature in front of the Lindsey Flanigan Courthouse were once again arrested this morning. Sheriffs deputies arrested Mark Iannicelli and Eric Brandt, the pair originally charged last year with jury tampering, based this time on an accusation of harassing people entering the courthouse. Brandt was detained and eventually let go, but Iannicelli was taken into custody after a complainant fingered him for harassment. Once Iannicelli’s lawyer was reached, a timely call to the office of the city attorney freed Iannicelli within the hour.

Mark Iannicelli emerged from the Van Cise Simonet Dentention Facility just before noon with a citation charging him with Disturbing the Peace and “Violation of Court Orders” whatever they think that means. The court order, a federal injunction to be precise, orders the city and county of Denver NOT TO ARREST Iannicelli, Brandt, or anyone, for distributing JN literature in the Lindsey Flanigan plaza.

Last August, Iannicelli and Brandt were charged with seven counts of jury tampering for exactly this activity. In January the charges were dismissed but DA Mitch Morrissey is appealing. Meanwhile the federal injunction will be proceding to trial next month.

Iannicelli and fellow activists with Occupy Denver have been handing out JN fliers every weekday since his arrest last year. The stint begins before 7:30am, while the public is kept waiting at the locked courthouse doors. Then defendents, jurors, lawyers and whatnot arrive in waves until 9:30am. Between those times, activists stand near the front doors quietly passing out fliers and engaging in conversation with whoever inquires.

Mark is the friendliest of all the “lonely pamphleteers” and his being accused of being anything other than friendly will be easily disproved by the security cameras and security personel keeping a close watch on the disputed activity outside.

Mark’s arrest is the twentieth since OD’s jury nullification campaign began, not counting two citations for having an OD leader caught off leash.

Even as Denver loses in court battles the city doubles down. It’s a bitch for civil liberties but the ultimate outcome will be all the more funny.

You won’t see Michael Marshall in his jail death video because his body is obscured by five deputies killing him

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DENVER, COLORADO- Never mind the video showing the in-custody killing of trespass suspect Michael Marshall, says Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, “Most of Mr. Marshall’s body is not visible in the majority of the video footage after he is taken to the floor because the deputies bodies’ block the view of the camera.”

That’s right, it took five sheriff deputies to keep the 112 lb. Marshall floored. “He was surprisingly strong” said one of the deputies, which is the same compliment deputies paid to Marvin Booker, another 135 lb. 50 year-old African American man whose schizophrenic episode was treated with a lethal dose of dispassionate elbow grease.

The Denver DA announced today he had no plans to prosecute the dentention center deputies for Marshall’s sudden involuntary release from confinement. The DA ignored terrifying details from the earlier coroner’s report but adds previously unknown facts which will be revealed when the video is made public later this week. He reports that “OPN devices (nunchucks) were used on Mr. Marshall’s ankles” and “a leg chain was placed on his lower legs.” Michael Marshall “struggled on the floor for over 2 minutes before he went limp.” and it took deputies 13 minutes and 20 seconds before Marshall was placed into a restraint chair where nurses discovered he wasn’t breathing.

Ignored completely are the damning details listed by the medical examiner: the blood in Marshall’s lungs and pulverized muscle tissue consistent with beating.

Instead Morrissey concentrates on aspiration as cause of death. Did it cause Marshall’s death or did others factors contribute? By other factors he’s not talking about the 900lbs of deputees.

As with Marvin Booker, police experts blame not the excessive use of force but the victim’s exertions against the force, struggling to breathe under a pile of officers very specifically. I’m reminded of the adage, it’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden deceleration at the end. Michael Marshall couldn’t breathe, he kept trying alegedly, and the officers weren’t going to loosen their hold until he was comatose.

The city attorneys office plans to release the jail surveillance video tomorrow. You won’t see Michael Marshall but you’ll see the deputies who wrestled the slight-built Marshall to his death. The DA report lists their names: sheriffs deputies Bret Garegnani, Carlos Hernandez, Smajo Civic, Thanarat Phuvapaisalkij, and Sarah Bautista.

Marshall’s death hasteners join Marvin Booker’s killers, deputies James Grimes, Kyle Sharp, Kenneth Robinette, and Sgt. Carrie Rodriguez, all still on the jailhouse team. Except Deputy Faun Gomez, who was disciplined for another excessive force infraction and now serves with the highway patrol.

Subverting the justice system with Jury Nullification: too radical for radicals?

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Here’s our spiel for those burned out on the reformist treadmill. Jury Nullification is not about reforming the justice system or asking power to temper its abuse. This is about convincing ordinary people that as jurors they can upset the whole racist classist for-profit applecart.

Ordinary citizens serving their jury duty can refuse to be par† of the system which funds municipal coffers and supplies the prison system. They can listen to the jury instruction and the legalese box outside of which they are restrained from thinking, and they can say no.

When jurors refuse to convict, prosecutors can’t press charges and cops can’t make arrests.

Jury Nullification doesn’t reform law so much as explode it from within. Not via the legislator, nor civil servant, but through ordinary conscientious people.

Jury Nullification has the potential for radical change. When more people figure this out, these juries will be the pitchforks and torches that riot police can’t stop.

You want to make Black Lives Matter, put them in the hands of subversive jurors.

You want to defeat Denver DA Mitch Morrissey? Load his juries with people who don’t support him.

Undermine the cases authorities bring against people, don’t become preoccupied with prosecuting cops. That’s just reinforcing the power of the prosecutor.

Take away the authority of the police state by denying them guilty verdicts. Acquit arrestees so they can sue for false arrest. Acquit accused people of color on principle. Defeat the racial incarceration problem by halting the conviction of minorities.

End the war on drugs. The war is over if you want it. Just say no to one more mandatory sentence. Tell the judge and prosecutors and your fellow people that the war is over.

BREAKING: Denver DA Mitch Morrissey to be subpoenaed in jury tampering case of Mark Iannicelli and Eric Brandt!

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DENVER, COLORADO- Denver Judge Johnny C. Barajas wouldn’t produce Eric Brandt, who’s still being held in county jail without bond, he wouldn’t commit to joining Brandt’s case with that of Mark Iannicelli, he wouldn’t commit to granting a preliminary hearing, but he has allowed Attorneys David Lane and Lonn Heymann to subpoena all complainants, including Denver District Attorney Mitchell R. Morrissey!
 
The target of a recent recall effort, the Denver DA won’t indict killer cops or sheriff’s deputies, but Morrissey and his cronies in the DPD will have to show up August 31 at 8:30am to account for the abridged First Amendment rights of Messrs Brandt and Ianicelli.