Carol Fisher is a 54 year old woman who was putting up “Bush Step Down”
posters on telephones in Cleveland Heights. For this, she was assaulted
by police, charged and convicted of 2 counts of felony assault on
police officers. Carol is now in the Cuyohoga County Jail. On June 2,
Judge Timothy McGinty sentenced her to 2 months in jail, 2 years
probation with community service and mandatory “anger management
classes.”
This is an outrage! An appeal of her conviction has been filed by her attorneys. This case has been reported on extensively in the Cleveland Free Times, The Sun Press, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and websites and blogs around the world. A Fact Sheet on this case, complete coverage and updates available at www.worldcantwait.org
June 2, 2006(Sentencing Day:
9:45 am–As Carol and her supporters entered the lobby of the Justice Center, they were surrounded by deputies who claimed that anyone wearing a political t-shirt was not allowed in the building (including Carol). Luckily, her attorney, Terry Gilbert, happened to arrive on the scene at that moment. Mr. Gilbert demanded to see the written policy against wearing t-shirts with statements on them. Of course, no such policy exists and none was presented. The deputies then asked if the shirt was a protest, further stating that they wanted to circumvent any potential demonstration.
10 am– The sentencing hearing was about to start when deputies ordered Carol to take another drug test, despite the fact that she had already taken one. The court said another drug test was need because the last urine sample was “too diluted.” Carol’s urine was ‘diluted’ due to her need to drink water continually because she does not produce saliva, due to medical complications from extensive radiation in her battle against cancer in her jaw. Of course, the urine sample came back drug free. This delayed the hearing for 1 1/2 hours, making the media and 30 of her supporters wait.
11:30 am–The media and Carol’s supporters finally get into the courtroom and are seated. Judge McGinty comes in and immediately points to one of Carol’s supporters, ordering that he be removed from the courtroom. McGinty claimed that weeks earlier, this particular man had made a statement after the “guilty” verdict was read, “speaking about justice,” and that was not allowed! The deputies then grabbed the man by his coat, pushed him out the courtroom, and escorted him out of the building. Judge McGinty then directed his fire at Ms. Fisher, wearing her now famous t-shirt (‘WANTED for Illegally Crossing Borders: The Bush Regime,’ which contains mug shots of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Condoleeza Rice), and demanded that she remove her shirt. When she refused, he declared that he was postponing the sentencing til later in the day. He threatened that if Carol didn’t change her shirt, he would issue a warrant for civil contempt. He postponed the sentencing for another 4 hours.
4:30 pm–Carol, her supporters, and the media returned to the courtroom. Carol was still wearing her t-shirt, but the judge went on with the hearing anyway. In fact, McGinty didn’t even mention the shirt until a ways into the hearing, and no warrant was ever produced. During the hearing, almost every statement given by the defense was interrupted continually by McGinty. A resident of Cleveland Heights had just begun to speak as a character witness for Carol when she was also interrupted by the judge, complaining that he didn’t want to hear a “political diatribe.” This character witness refused to be silenced, kept giving her statement despite her being yelled at by the judge and surrounded by armed balilffs. She was then thrown out of the courtroom, and escorted out of the building. Shortly after that, another of Carol’s supporters was thrown out of the courtroom for “sighing.”
Judge McGinty angrily complained that Ms. Fisher has ‘quite a support network,’ having received hundreds of phone calls protesting the verdict from around the country. He went further to say that many of these calls were rude and obscene, and at least one call was being ‘investigated.’
Carol remained cool and defiant the during the entire proceeding. Not only did she proudly wear her t-shirt, she concluded her statement in court by telling the judge, “You wanted an apology? You want me to show remorse? Forget about it!
What you can do:
*Funds urgently needed for the appeal, including about $2000 to get the trial transcript. Donate to ‘The Carol Fisher Defense Fund’ c/o WCW PO Box 609034 Cleveland OH 44109
*Join us at a “Speak Out!” for Carol Fisher – Monday, June 5 at 7 pm at the corner of Lee and Cedar Roads in Cleveland Heights
*Post this fact sheet and/or your opinions on this case to websites, listserves, blogs, etc.
*Call Judge Timothy McGinty and express your outrage: 216-443-8758
*Get your legal organization to be part of Carol’s defense: make statements, file friend of the court briefs, etc.
*Send letters to the editor to your local and national newspapers, includingCleveland media at:The Cleveland Plain Dealer. www.cleveland.com\plaindealer\lettertoeditorThe Cleveland Free Times. sun@sunnews.comand please send copies to us at the address below.
216-633-6200 PO Box 609034 Cleveland OH 44109