Sign this petition for Gregory Koger, scheduled to be sentenced on September 8th.
After 9 months of vengeful and unrelenting pursuit of a conviction by the Cook County (Illinois) State’s Attorney and the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago (EHSC), videographer Gregory Koger was found guilty on August 26th of trespass, resisting a police officer, and battery for the “crime” of videotaping a brief but newsworthy statement by Sunsara Taylor at the EHSC.
WE DENOUNCE THIS OUTRAGEOUS VERDICT!
WE DEMAND REINSTATEMENT of BOND and GREGORY’S IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM JAIL!
FREE GREGORY KOGER! NO JAIL TIME!
"I am astonished by the extreme measures taken against Gregory Koger, all for a misdemeanor charge. This is not justice, especially for a person of his moral standing."
-Fr. Robert Bossie, SCJ
- Send this newsflash to everyone you know. Join us on Facebook, invite your friends, and use Twitter, and the list serves you are on to get this out everywhere
- Immediately send statements of support for Gregory to the defense committee (AdHoc4Reason@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
- Donate money for the appeal. Go to the defense committee website for more information (www.dropthecharges.net)
- Show your support – come to the sentencing hearing on September 8 (in the Chicago area):
9:30 am, Wed., Sept 8
Cook County Courthouse
5600 W. Old Orchard Road
Skokie, IL - More information will be coming; keep in touch with the Ad Hoc Committee at AdHoc4Reason@gmail.com
Sign this petition:
To the Judge:
We the undersigned strongly urge that Gregory Koger not be given jail time for these misdemeanor convictions. The extremely unusual revocation of bond for a misdemeanor conviction should be reversed so he can be free to work on his appeal. Far from a “menace to society,” Gregory has overcome his troubled youth, transformed his life, and become an inspiration for all those seeking justice and a better world.
Click here to add your name to the petition. Click here to spread the word on Facebook.
[quote name=”Laslo Toth”]This sounds like grandstanding BS to me, especially having read several EHSC members’ accounts[/quote]
Why don’t you go ahead and post those accounts here, Mr. Laslo? Because they sure haven’t made them available to anyone else who has asked.
People have left that organization over their shameful behavior in this matter. I applaud those who have done so. If they claim to be about compassion, democracy, and humanism, don’t you think they should clarify how their behavior in this matter is consistent with those ideals?
Can anyone really think that locking someone up in prison that they disagree with is compassionate, democratic, or humanistic?
One thing that is really amazing and inspiring here is that Gregory Koger, a person who ended up in prison in his youth due to various circumstances and was written off by the system as an animal and not worthy of the attention of the rest of society was really able to turn his life around and start to grapple with why things are the way they are and it doesn’t have to be that way.That he started taking part in various things like videotaping clinic defense work at women’s health clinics that are under attack by the anti-abortionists, doing anti-torture work. This is really precious and must be upheld. He could have gone in another direction like being caught up in revenge and being caught up on street stuff which is a dead end.He is someone that the EHSC should have interviewed about living an ethical life and serving the interests of humanity and not calling the police on him to brutalize and cover up their rotten crap and dishonesty.
I’d also like to read the “Ethical” Humanist Society’s account–because it’s for damn sure not on their website. Not a word. Sounds like they’ve been distributing it behind the scenes to people who they can count on to clamor for prison time for people like Gregory.
If they’re so proud of the position they’ve taken on this, and are so certain that it is consistent with their lofty-sounding ideals, why don’t they put their stuff out there? More likely they’re distorting the truth and lying about positions and “motives” just as they did in dis-inviting Sunsara Taylor. What are they afraid (or ashamed) of?
I’ve written to them several times to get them to tell “their side”. They have NEVER responded. Not even a canned, prepared, cut-and-paste statement. Does that sound like someone who’s being principled and above-board, “democratic, rational and compassionate” to you…or does it sound like someone with something to hide?
God, if you’re ever “ashamed to be a leftist” that already says you’re only likely to stand up when it’s convenient or popular to do so. We need a lot less of that.
Are you REALLY willing to let someone go to jail for three years because you’re afraid that standing against police repression in this case will make your liberal friends think you agree with Gregory Koger, or Sunsara Taylor? Because face it, those are the people who are making you feel “ashamed”. It’s not the principles either of those people stand for, it’s what your liberal friends will say.
If there’s anything shameful in this situation, that’s it right there–the treacherous and comfortable people who are willing to let the cops, courts and prisons take care of the people they disagree with.
EHSC invited Sunsara Taylor in July and canceled less than two weeks before the event on Nov 1, using distortions of her positions to justify their suppression of positions some in their ranks didn’t care for. She came there that morning prior to an event promoted as “free and open to the public” to give them a chance to reverse their decision and to invite members to LEAVE to hear what their board tried to keep from them, only to have her videographer set upon by the police. So who’s not respecting others here? You say “there’s a fine case to be made” that Gregory was aggressive – and what would that be? You don’t make it because you can’t. In fact, he was in the process of leaving when he was grabbed by police – to go to the home of a (now former) member of EHSC where Sunsara was giving her talk! No, this was not about trespass; it was initially about EHSC trying to stop more exposure of their lies and suppression, and now it’s about punishing Gregory for becoming the revolutionary inspiration that he is, a testament to the fact that those called “the worst of the worst” can transform into emancipators of humanity. Now it’s up to us to support Gregory and turn this around.
This sounds like grandstanding BS to me, especially having read several EHSC members\’ accounts of the grandstanding done by Ms. Taylor when her speech was cancelled.
This is very typical of the sort of behavior that makes me ashamed to be a leftist sometimes: even being told to respect the rights and property of other people gets twisted into tales of persecution by the most fanatical, and being polite to them is always a mistake — in part because any damned idiot will support them for being \”on their side\” regardless of the facts. Radicals, of either extreme, don\’t tend to handle nuance very well, nor are they very gracious about being told \”no.\”
There is a fine case to be made that, indeed, Koger was aggressive to the cops first — and while I\’m hardly a fan of the police, I\’m also not a fan of people who lose their s*** when they\’re told they\’re trespassing and should please go home. I don\’t WANT people like Koger on my \”side.\”
The prosecution’s whole case was that videotaping equated trespassing. And trespassing justified the police brutality documented in photos from the day. The prosecutor even said “it doesn’t matter if you’re eating a sandwich or taping – if the owner of a property doesn’t want you to do it you’re trespassing.” And again, that apparently justifies bringing the police in to beat, mace and lock you up – for years even!
Is that the kind of society you want to live in?
For the record; he was found guilty of trespass, resisting a police officer, and battery.
He was NOT found guilty of video taping. It may be true that a simple act of video taping instigated the police’ interest in him but, let’s stick to the facts.
The fact is that he was found guilty, by a jury of his peers, of trespass, resisting a police officer, and battery.
Would they rather we shoot them with a gun?
Just when I thought people will increasingly continue to be more and more afraid of their inappropriate actions being revealed by videotape, this kinda crap happens.
Please reverse this decision.