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<b>Welcome to Infoshop News<br>
</b>Thursday, March 04 2010 @ 03:15 PM UTC <br>
<a href="http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=2010iowa-alf-fraud" eudora="autourl">
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=2010iowa-alf-fraud<br><br>
</a></font><h1><font size=4><b>8 Reasons the Iowa A.L.F. Investigation is
a Fraud</b></font></h1><font size=3>Thursday, March 04 2010 @ 05:41 AM
UTC<br><br>
Contributed by:
<a href="http://news.infoshop.org/users.php?mode=profile&uid=14994">
AnimalLiberation</a><br><br>
<b>Five years after the Animal Liberation Front raids the University of
Iowa, the government launches a prosecution that is a fraud on its
face</b> From
<a href="http://www.voiceofthevoiceless.org/8-reasons-the-iowa-alf-investigation-is-a-farce/">
Voice of the Voiceless</a><br><br>
In late-2004, morning workers arrived at the Spence Laboratories to find
$450,000 in damage to equipment and 401 animals missing. Graffiti left at
the scene read "Science Not Sadism" and "Free The
Animals". In a
<a href="http://www.nocompromise.org/news/041114iowalib.html">long
communique</a>, the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) took
credit.<br><br>
Just before the 5-year statute of limitations was to expire (most federal
crimes have an SoL of 5 years),
<a href="http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com/">two Minneapolis
activists</a> were subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury in Davenport,
IA. It soon became clear the grand jury was investigating the University
of Iowa A.L.F. raid. Both were jailed after refusing to testify. Soon
after, one of the two - Scott DeMuth - was indicted for Animal Enterprise
Terrorism.<br><br>
Those I have spoken to close to the case awe at the bizarre,
unprofessional, and legally unsound nature of the entire prosecution. As
one person told me: "When all the facts come out, this DA is going
to be very embarrassed".<br><br>
All indicators are that the government rushed through an indictment they
knew would not stand, in order to freeze the clock on the statute of
limitations and buy time to build a more solid case. The case has all the
markings of a desperate and unconstitutional prosecution motivated by an
attempt to save face after 5 years of failing to apprehend the Animal
Liberation Front.<br><br>
<br>
</font><h3><b>Eight Reasons the Iowa A.L.F. Investigation is a
Fraud</b></h3><font size=3><b>Feldman was 15 at the time of the
raid<br><br>
</b><a href="http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com/">Carrie
Feldman</a>, incarcerated for refusing testimony to the grand jury, was a
15 year old sophomore in high school at the time of the raid. Yet a judge
has stated the government admitted... <br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>"...it sought Ms. Feldman's testimony because it believes she
had knowledge of "a break-in of the University of Iowa Spence
Laboratories in November, 2004."<br><br>
</dl>And in a dissenting opinion on Carrie Feldman's (denied) motion for
release, a judge said: <br>
<dl>
<dd>"...I am concerned by the necessary implication raised in this
matter that the government is seeking Ms. Feldman's testimony for the
sole purpose of gathering additional information to support its
indictment against Mr. DeMuth."<br><br>
</dl>DeMuth was 17 at the time of the raid <br><br>
</b>Unlike Feldman, Scott DeMuth is accused of direct participation</i>
in the A.L.F. action (prosecutors have stated they believe he is featured
in a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SirWRwVyHQ">video made of
the raid</a>). 17 at the time, DeMuth is implicated in an action that has
the appearance of one of the most complex and expertly executed in the
Animal Liberation Front's history. According the media reports and the
A.L.F. communiqué, activists picked locks, bypassed four layers of
security, used stolen key cards to access labs, and removed 401animals
from the building undetected. At 17, DeMuth is accused of an action
requiring this level of skill.<br><br>
DeMuth was not told he was a target of the grand jury <br><br>
</b>Furthering evidence DeMuth's indictment was reprisal for his refusal
to testify, he was not told he was a target of the grand jury when
subpoenaed, as required by law. This bolsters the case that DeMuth's
indictment was motivated by spite, and was an afterthought to his refusal
to testify.<br><br>
The statute of limitations had expired<br><br>
</b>The indictment was issued four days after</i> the five-year statute
of limitations had expired. An appellate court judge stated: <br>
<dl>
<dd>"The district court abused its discretion when it found Ms.
Feldman in contempt of court because it failed to consider a significant
relevant factor, i.e., whether the statute of limitations had run on the
crime for which the government seeks Ms. Feldman's testimony....the
government itself cites no authority for the proposition it can abuse the
grand jury process to compel a witness to testify regarding a crime for
which the statute of limitations has expired."<br><br>
</dl>Indictment is unconstitutionally incomplete <br><br>
</b>Demuth's original indictment was so "shockingly vague"
(defense lawyers), it failed to provide the following basic information:
the elements of the alleged offense, supporting facts and circumstances,
the law alleged to have been violated, identifying an element of
interstate activity, providing a date range of the alleged conspiracy,
where the conspiracy is alleged to have taken place, and basic
information as to what he is accused of. The one-page indictment was
practically void of any information with which DeMuth could prepare a
defense, including any information on what crime he is alleged to have
committed.<br><br>
Law DeMuth charged under did not exist in 2004 <br><br>
</b>Scott DeMuth is charged under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a
law that did not exist until 2006 - two years after the University of
Iowa raid.<br><br>
</i>A quote from the motion to dismiss the indictment: <br>
<dl>
<dd>"....respectfully moves that his indictment be dismissed since
the charges brought against him are under a statute which was not the law
at the time of the alleged offense."<br><br>
</dl>Only evidence is DeMuth's "resemblance" to person in
grainy film<br><br>
</b>The only evidence the prosecutor has stated to support DeMuth's
involvement is his "resemblance" to an individual in a video of
the raid. The video of the rescue, taken by the A.L.F., is a grainy black
and white film showing activists loading animals onto carts and taking
them from the lab. Video would </i>be damning evidence.... were all
activists on the video not wearing masks.<br><br>
DeMuth is not a vegetarian<br><br>
</b>In perhaps the most absurd example, the government made the folly of
charging someone for an A.L.F. action who is not even a vegetarian. In
fact, the man accused of conspiring to rescue rats from a lab is a
bow-hunter.<br><br>
</i>Conclusion</b>: The jailing of Carrie Feldman and indictment of Scott
DeMuth appears to be motivated by the following factors: desperation,
spite, and / or a need to freeze the statute of limitation and buy time
to build a substantive case.<br><br>
The combined factors make the University of Iowa A.L.F. case among the
most egregious examples of prosecutorial overzealousness in the animal
liberation movement's history.<br><br>
- <a href="??">Peter Young</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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