Tag Archives: Westword

Delayed Habeas Corpus for Eric Brandt, then two Westminster kangaroo courts, despite $3,500 bond being paid.

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WESTMINSTER, COLORADO- It was quite a day for Eric “Fuck Cops” Brandt, in custody at the Denver County Jail since Monday August 10, as usual for exercising his First Amendment rights. Even by Wednesday the jail wouldn’t allow Eric visitors or bail. Next they delayed his court appearance almost two hours. Then the judge wouldn’t grant a PR bond, choosing to require the homeless veteran to raise $3,500 for bail. Then the clerk insisted the entire docket be completed before the bond paperwork would be available. Eventually Eric’s bond was covered by a benefactor, but before Eric could be processed for release, the City of Westminster transferred him to their municipal court for a full afternoon of hearings.

In Westminster, Associate Judge Paul Basso refused Eric’s motion for a jury trial then immediately declared court to be in recess and walked out as Eric’s attorney David lane tried to voice his objections. Funny story: though Basso had declined the motion, he misspoke and declared that Eric was to have a jury trial, so Basso had to reenter the courtroom to reiterate for the record: there was to be no jury trial. This time Lane offered to put Brandt’s former public defender on the stand, he was there waiting, to attest that Brandt had never declined his right to a jury. Judge Basso refused and again walked out.

Next up, Presiding Judge John Stipech declined motions to dismiss, to recuse, or to appoint a special prosecutor for Brandt’s cases. Stipech declined to hear witnesses present and ready to testify that Westminster staffers were overheard plotting to incarcerate Brandt no matter what. No hearing, set all the trial dates up like bowling pins.

Next on the agenda, Judge Stipech ordered Eric to remove documents he’d posted to “his Facebook”: confidential police internal affairs reports sloppily surrendered during discovery and now published in Westword. Eric was supposed to comply whether in custody or homeless, or be found in contempt.

Brandt was put back en route to Denver while attorneys were asked to set the upcoming court dates. Suddenly Eric’s transport was ordered to return so that the Westminster prosecutor could motion to revoke Eric’s multiple bonds on account of his new felony charges in Denver. Fortunately the bond revocation hearing was set for Sept 2 to allow David Lane time to subpoena witnesses. This date will also follow the Aug 31 hearing in Denver where Lane has subpoenaed the Denver DA to account for the unconstitutional train wreck.

Now back at Denver Jail, Eric is being kept overnight with the excuse that the pretrial services office was closed and doesn’t reopen until 8AM. Eric Brandt has been incarcerated since Monday afternoon, his bond met, his tattoo assuring he can’t be confused for anyone else. He’s front and center today on the Denver Post and Westword, but the city’s top law enforcers can still pretend to delay his release on technicalities. They spent eighteen hours “running his fingerprints” when everyone in downtown Denver can recognize Eric Brandt a block away, three, when he’s got his sign.

Is Occupy movement about issues, not tents? Denver learns, it’s ABOUT TENTS

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DENVER- Hundreds of police in riot gear were deployed against the Occupy campers today. Not for the peaceful march, nor the slogans they voiced, nor even activist demands to climb the capitol steps. No, the hundreds arrived with gas masks, and new batons literally out of the box, to roust a dozen protest tents adorned with Occupy Wall Street slogans. To the peaceful assembly, the sudden arms buildup could have been none other than a show of force.

Occupy Colorado Springs occupier Frankie Roper was among the first arrests. A DPD motorcycle cop drove into the grass and over Roper’s foot. He pushed the bike off, tipping it. Roper was struck by multiple pepper pellets as he ran quickly away. After being tackled by police, Roper required a stretcher and was taken to a Denver hospital.


Denver police chief discusses his strategy with Colorado Congressman Ed Permutter who circulated among the front line protesters being a condescending dick. Similar MO to unidentified cowboy at left let to roam behind police lines.


Speculation about why the state needed to clear original OccupyDenver camp from state grounds, because they needed it for a police parking lot.

Good coverage in Westword, page 4.

Churchill juror Bethany Newill explains

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A few interesting things about the Ward Churchill jury came to light today (a sigh of relief from Pirate Ballerina!). The jury thought — right up until the judge gave them their instructions — they were to determine whether Ward Churchill was guilty of academic misconduct. When they realized they needed only to decide only whether the 9/11 essay was a substantial motivating factor in his dismissal, they agreed very quickly that it was.

Although apparently the jury took their deliberations seriously, they didn’t want to have anything to do with the damages portion of the process. They hoped the judge would do the job for them but when they found out that wasn’t permitted, they gave it a half-hearted shot. This from Westword’s interview with juror Bethany Newill:

Once Judge Larry Naves reiterated that the jury had to tackle this task, Newill confirms that “the majority of us were in favor of giving him money,” but they didn’t know how much to award. “We were given a four-page set of rules to determine the amount, and there was also an option that we didn’t have to do it. And one of the rules said there needed to be a preponderance of the evidence to show the financial effect it had on Ward Churchill. And there was no real dollar amount other than the loss of wages.”

Ultimately, the jurors followed the lead of David Lane, Churchill’s attorney. “He said, ‘What price can you put on a reputation?'” Newill remembers. “And we all decided that there’s not a price you can put on a reputation. And even though this was protected speech, there are still consequences to your actions and your words. When Ward Churchill wrote that essay, he had to think that people would be affected by that, negatively or positively, and that he would need to reap the consequences on his reputation.” Still, she emphasizes that “it wasn’t a slap in his face or anything like that when we didn’t give him any money. It’s just that David Lane kept saying this wasn’t about the money, and in the end, we took his word for that.”

No doubt, a jury of peers! Just not Ward Churchill’s peers!

Ward Churchill prevails over Western Civ

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Professor Ward Churchill stands before Denver court house
DENVER- The jury ruled for Ward Churchill today, that he was wrongfully terminated, on the basis of his 9/11 essay, and that CU had no other justification to fire him. It remains for the judge to order the university to reinstate the professor, with back pay, and pay Attorney David Lane’s legal fees. In other words, the accusations made against Churchill have been repudiated, and the regents showed themselves to be perjurers. It was my impression the ex-Rocky Mountain News columnists left the courtroom with their tongues between their wobbly knees.

Churchill v University of Colorado

Churchill v University of ColoradoThis is court room 6, where the trial stretched for three and a half weeks. We’re looking over the plaintiff’s desk, to the right is the podium. That’s Ward Churchill’s coat draped on his chair.

I would expect that Churchill is owed an apology from the several publications which perpetuated the untruths about his scholarship. Beside the RMN, there’s Westword, the Denver Post, the Boulder Daily Camera, etc, etc, basically everyone who’s peddled the plagiarism falsehoods, thinking them substantiated by the CU committee. Now the falsehoods are disproved are adjudicated. Now it will be libel, to repeat those untruths about Churchill.

Churchill v University of Colorado

Churchill v University of Colorado

Churchill v University of Colorado

Churchill v University of Colorado

Press conference after verdict

Westword dumb-alecks are rooting for the separation of Churchill and state

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Westword Print edition contents pageDENVER- This week’s cover of WESTWORD portends the upcoming Ward Churchill trial. The cover features Churchill and colleagues as unsavory caricatures of what looks like a circus of creeps. It points not to a cover story, but to a cartoon gatefold of equally squalid details, viewable online.

What you can’t see online is the editorial slant stuck into the contents page pointer. Two clever puns perhaps, betraying Westword’s miserable intent to disinform. Ward without end: academic freedom is a long bore. Separation of Churchill and state: apropos to nothing, maybe closer to the opposite, actually. The separation of education from the people.

The Westword jokes ride on a single unquestioned assumption, that Churchill is guilty of plagiarism. I think that’s an odd argument to pretend has already been proved. The University’s case is trumped up, and many academics have jumped to Churchill’s aid. Now that the charge faces a Denver courtroom, and not a stacked board of trustees, the baldfaced accusation will easily be refuted.

My bigger question is, from whom could Churchill have borrowed?!

Ward Churchill’s critics are wildly opposed to the findings of his scholarship. They’re angry that he points to genocide perpetrated against Native Americans, angry that he rails against the racism which undergirds American imperialism, and terrified that he completely exposed the government’s programs aimed at silencing dissent, COINTELPRO’s workings still lying unsprung on college campuses.

Ward’s opponents deny every of his conclusions, but they want to pretend he’s not alone? This is going to be like the naked emperor, accusing the little brave truth-teller of simply having mimicked his friends. Even true, the emperor is still naked.

Here’s another example of Westword’s humor. While every detail about Churchill seems framed to be a put-down, it looks like they also mean that to include the ethnicity of his wife.
Westword comic

I haven’t been paying attention to Denver’s alternative weekly. When did Westword become such douchebags?