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</font><tt>Update on Allison Watson<br><br>
The perjury charges against me have been dismissed.<br><br>
I would like to thank all those people who have supported me<br>
in my legal battles with the Federal Prosecutor’s office in<br>
Seattle. Although I was never myself a target for investigation for any
crime, I was being prosecuted for exercising my rights under the 1st
Amendment of freedom of association. You see, people that I know were
targets of an investigation where there was so little evidence that the
prosecutors had not laid any charges but were fishing for
information.<br><br>
I don’t trust my government and there is valid historical<br>
reason for not trusting my government. I remember the lessons<br>
of the Hollywood black lists and how careers and lives were<br>
destroyed because people were intimidated into giving<br>
information on their friends and family. Today answering that<br>
someone is a vegan, a member of an animal rights or<br>
environmental organization means that you could be providing<br>
information that would cause problems for other people.<br>
Questions like; are you now or ever been a member of an animal<br>
rights organization or an environmental group. The House of<br>
UnAmerican Activities demonstrated very vividly just how<br>
un-American such questioning is.<br><br>
I would never and will never answer any question of any <br>
Grand Jury without my constitutional right of legal representation, a
right that was denied to me by the federal prosecutors in Seattle. This
is not about cooperation in the interest of society. This is about
cooperating with a system that is working overtime to deprive all
Americans of the rights<br>
guaranteed to us by that most noble of proclamations – the<br>
Constitution of the United States of America. I would rather<br>
die or be imprisoned than to diminish the rights established<br>
in that document and defended by brave patriots for over two<br>
hundred years.<br><br>
The bottom line is this; the government of the United States<br>
of America has no right to intimidate, harass, persecute and<br>
harangue its citizens to provide information that will lead to<br>
the deprivation of rights to other citizens or oneself for<br>
political reasons. The fact is that the present administration<br>
of the United States has declared war on both the environmental and
animal rights movements. There is a political and career enhancing
motivation by federal prosecutors to bring animal rights and
environmental activists to trial. The administration wants heads and the
federal prosecutors are striving to collect those heads.<br><br>
For more than two years, the U.S. Department of Justice has<br>
been harassing me. They did not bother to explain their reasons to me.
Big Brother apparently does not need reasons. I was first called in to be
finger-printed. I was not arrested but subpoenaed. I was brought in again
to give hand-writing samples. I was brought in again to give fingerprints
a second time. I was called into the Grand Jury only to be told to come
back again at another time. Two years of being subpoenaed and called in
and appointments cancelled, and then subpoenaed again, without a reason
given. The idea of course is to make someone believe he or she is being
investigated for a crime without telling them that they are or are not,
without being specific. Always vague, always demanding, and always
intimidating.<br><br>
When I was compelled to appear before the grand jury, I was told that I
would have no right to a lawyer to counsel me during questioning. I
pleaded the Fifth Amendment. In response I was ordered before a Judge who
told me I could not invoke the Fifth Amendment, after all, my name is not
Oliver North. I was than brought before the Grand Jury where I promptly
pleaded the First Amendment specifically concerned with the clause; nor
shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law. Being denied counsel is a denial of due process. I pleaded the 1st
amendment citing that the government had no right to question me about my
freedom of association with other persons. Again the Judge ordered me to
answer the questions of the Grand Jury and stated that the 1st Amendment
was not valid to protect me against questions aimed at chilling my right
to be an activist. I answered questions, but, as the transcript of
my<br>
hearing reveals, the prosecutors bullied, intimidated and tricked me in a
way that they believed they could bring perjury charges against me.
Ultimately, the government dropped the charges because we intended to
prove how unfairly they treated me. Also, critical evidence to
demonstrate the unfairness of the process and the prosecutors’
questioning of me had been destroyed.<br><br>
According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer:<br><br>
The government dropped the perjury charge Thursday after failing to
produce transcripts of conversations within the Grand Jury room before
and after Watson testified.<br><br>
“It happened by accident – totally inadvertent.” Said Assistant U.S.
Attorney Mark Bartlett who explained that the documents were thrown out
as the office was getting ready to move to the new federal
courthouse.<br><br>
Bartlett said that an employee threw out roughly ten years of paper tapes
containing transcripts of grand jury proceedings in which witnesses were
not present in the belief that there were electronic discs containing the
same information.<br><br>
The Post Intelligencer also reported:<br><br>
Seattle attorney Angelo Calfo sought to defend his client by showing that
the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Friedman, had constructed
a “perjury trap,” by tricking her into committing perjury. To further his
argument, Calfo successfully sought an order from U.S. District Judge
Marsha Pechman requiring the U.S. Attorney’s office to produce
transcripts<br>
of conversations in the grand-jury chambers made before and after Watson
testified.<br><br>
This could not be done because the transcripts had been
destroyed.<br><br>
Thursday, prosecutors dropped the perjury charges against Watson, which
if she had been found guilty, could have brought her five years in prison
and a $250,000 fine.<br><br>
This was in fact a precedent set because the Judge ordered the Federal
Prosecutor’s office to provide depositions from the principles in
attendance at the Grand Jury. The Federal Attorney’s office chose not to
provide these depositions and instead dismissed the charges.<br><br>
The Post Intelligencer went on to report:<br><br>
Calfo said Watson was ordered back before the Grand Jury last Thursday,
but refused to answer questions.<br><br>
Said Calfo: “Her position was: “I was called before the Grand Jury and
falsely accused of perjury in a situation where I felt I was tricked. I
don’t feel it’s fair to require me to continue to cooperate under these
circumstances.”<br><br>
I was then charged with contempt and plead guilty to the charge on the
understanding that it would be a misdemeanor conviction and not a felony
and I will not have a probationary period. I could go to jail for a
maximum of 6 months. I was ordered to appear for sentencing on November
17, 2004.<br><br>
Having failed to prosecute me for perjury and having failed to <br>
intimidate me into cooperation with their Grand Jury, the Federal
Prosecutor’s office turned their attention on animal right activist and
my best friend Gina Lynn. Gina Lynn is a very outspoken animal rights
activist but she is not a criminal.<br><br>
Thus the witch hunt continues by the Federal government to hunt down
people suspected of defending the environment and protecting the lives of
animals from cruelty and violence.<br><br>
This is a strange nation indeed where terrorism is daily practiced on
defenseless creatures, where eco-systems are plundered and turned into
wastelands, where killing and destruction is defended in the name of
profits and where compassionate people are the object of persecution for
the crime of association with a movement that is attempting to stop
the<br>
killing, the injuries, the tortures and the damage to wetlands, forests,
lakes, rivers and the oceans.<br><br>
I will be working to try and get my sentence minimized. The maximum is
six months for contempt but I could receive a lighter sentence by the
sentencing judge. It is worrying for me because I have an elderly mother
that, as the only child, I am taking care of and I have obligations to my
dogs, cats and to the work of the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society.<br><br>
Letters of support would be very helpful. I would like to request that
people who have supported me write a letter appealing to the Judge to
consider my need to take care of my mother and to continue my work for
the environment and for animals.<br><br>
And finally, thank you all who donated to my defense fund. Without your
support, I would have been railroaded by the prosecutors into being
convicted of an unjust perjury charge which may have seen me incarcerated
for up to five years.<br><br>
In this respect, we have won. The federal prosecutors failed to send me
to prison for perjury, failed to convict me of a felony, and failed to
intimidate me into cooperation with their witch hunt.<br><br>
For that I thank you very, very much.<br><br>
Allison Lance Watson<br><br>
Please send letters to:<br><br>
The Honorable Monica Benton<br><br>
c/o Angelo J. Calfo<br><br>
Yarmuth Wilsdon Calfo<br><br>
2500 IDX Tower<br><br>
Seattle, WA 98104<br><br>
<br>
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