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<font size=3>Dec. 12, 2010 Support Eric<br><br>
<a href="http://supporteric.org/updates.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://supporteric.org/updates.htm<br><br>
</a>On Wednesday, December 8, the 9th circuit court of appeals denied
Eric's<br>
request for a rehearing en banc. This means, in theory, that 11
judges<br>
reviewed Eric's petition for a rehearing and not a single one of
them<br>
found any merit in the arguments detailed within. After nearly 5 years
of<br>
political maneuvering on the part of the government and a complete
and<br>
total lack of any sanity or logic in the court's decisions, this came
as<br>
no surprise to Eric and his loved ones.<br><br>
However, that fact does not lessen the blow of this cruel decision by
the<br>
9th circuit. This was, in effect, Eric's last available option in
the<br>
appeals process (other than appealing to the extremely conservative<br>
supreme court). Hope has proven to be a fleeting, evasive creature<br>
throughout this whole process. Many of us knew better than to fall for
its<br>
seductive overtures. But hearts are so often blind to what our minds
know<br>
to be truth even when we knew what the outcome would be, our hearts
had<br>
trouble letting go. We wanted Eric out here, with us. Free to wander
in<br>
ancient forests, to play in the swirling, roaring ocean. To live outside
a<br>
cage. But now, whatever traces of hope may have remained have been<br>
scattered in the wind.<br><br>
For some of us, our biggest mistake was believing that we ever had
any<br>
options in the first place. It became all too easy to fall into their
trap<br>
of successive illusory next-chances. Every time we lost bail, or a
motion,<br>
or trial, or at sentencing, or at the appeal... there was always
something<br>
waiting in the queue that could possibly save us from our imminent
hell.<br>
But the state created that queue not us. And it was set up to keep us
on<br>
the hook to keep us invested in a system (a system that many of us
never<br>
believed in to begin with) that would never deliver what we most wanted
=<br>
our friend, uncaged. As long as we believed that something might
change<br>
somewhere on down the line, we had to keep putting time and energy
into<br>
this behemoth of injustice.<br><br>
When the panel for oral arguments on Eric's appeal was announced we<br>
immediately did some homework to figure out what we would be facing
on<br>
August 9th. What we found was less than inspiring. Two of the judges
were<br>
Bush (junior) nominees. One of the three was described as a legal<br>
conservative, who pursues a “tough on crime” approach. Another was<br>
mentioned in a 1998 review of local judges reported by the San
Francisco<br>
Examiner. A poll of area attorneys rated him among the five worst
judges<br>
among the 49 judges named. One experienced female attorney described
Bea's<br>
attitude as "condescending and biased against women attorneys."
He is also<br>
a member of the San Francisco chapter of the Federalist Society.<br><br>
But most alarming of all was an article we dredged up on Consuelo
Callahan<br>
which indicated that she and Judge Morrison England the trial judge
in<br>
Eric's case were buddies. This was later confirmed by a lawyer who
works<br>
in the Sacramento Federal Courts. Just in case you missed the
significance<br>
of that one of the judges who would be deciding Eric's appeal,
which<br>
would mean reversing the decision/s of the lower court, is friends
with<br>
the very person who made those rulings to begin with. For a judge,
having<br>
your decisions reversed is perhaps the worst kind of embarrassment.
But<br>
surely Eric's fate wouldn't be decided by the rules of social
etiquette?<br><br>
Perhaps no one will ever know what actually went on behind closed
doors<br>
(maybe we'll see it on wikileaks one day), but their written
decision<br>
reflected nothing that had taken place during the oral arguments and
was<br>
clearly written before they even occurred.<br><br>
And so, by the time we arrived at the en banc process, most of us
(Eric<br>
first among us) had absolutely no expectations that this would go in
our<br>
favor. If anything, the court's decision is an affirmation of what we
have<br>
known to be true all along. The “justice system” works only for the<br>
interests of it's creators. If it starts to falter in it's mission,
it<br>
gets fine tuned (i.e. laws and rules get rewritten) to put it back on
the<br>
proper trajectory.<br><br>
People keep asking: what next? The truth is, there is no more next
at<br>
least not in the sense that most people mean. That is the trap we
have<br>
been falling into all along. That question is misplaced and
misdirected.<br>
It shouldn't refer to some obscure legal option, but instead it
should<br>
refer to what we do as individuals and as a movement, as a community,
to<br>
make things better and to move forward. We - not the state - should
define<br>
what's next.<br><br>
Eric has been held captive by the state for almost 5 years, now. He
has<br>
known, more than any of us, what “next” really means. Next means
right<br>
now. Next means making a life for himself in the middle of a storm. He
has<br>
always created his own definitions. He has been moving forward all
along.<br><br>
And so, his struggle continues.<br><br>
Eric would like to send his sincerest thanks to all of you. You have
been<br>
instrumental in this fight. Your letters, your songs, your donations,
your<br>
words of encouragement have kept Eric and his loved ones inspired
and<br>
strong. Keep it coming! Eric has a long road ahead of him, but with
your<br>
love and support he will press on. He remains strong in heart and
mind.<br>
And he knows that dreams can never be caged.<br><br>
Yours,<br>
Sacramento Prisoner Support<br><br>
<br>
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