Grandmother
and Long-time activist Joyce Ellwanger Guilty of Trespass in Wisconsin
Report
by Joy First
Joyce Ellwanger was found guilty of
trespassing by Judge Paul Curran in Juneau County court on Friday January 22,
2016. Though Curran never formerly pronounced a verdict saying Joyce was
guilty, he said she trespassed and he imposed a sentence in another
heavy-handed trial for the nine activists who were arrested at Volk Field in
August 2015.
Refusing
our request to consolidate the cases, Judge Curran has already found Jim Murphy
and Bonnie Block to be guilty. Jim spent five days in jail, and Bonnie
asked for community service, but Curran refused and said that if she didn’t pay
the fine it would be attached to her income tax. Four trials are
remaining and coming up in February.
The
DA, Michael Solvey, continued his familiar defense in Joyce’s trial. He
called the county sheriff and a deputy sheriff to take the stand, establishing
Joyce’s identity and that she did indeed cross onto the base.
Joyce
cross-examined both witnesses. Through questioning the witnesses
confirmed that when someone arrives at Volk Field they drive their vehicle to
the guard house, several hundred feet past the brick gates, show their
identification, and state why they are there. Joyce asked why we are
discriminated against and were stopped at the gates and not asked about why we
were there. The reply was that they knew we were
there to protest and get arrested. Joyce stated that was not her
intention. She was there to talk to the commander about the drones.
Judge
Curran questioned the deputy about whether he (or another member of the general
public) would be able to drive to the gatehouse and the deputy responded he
would.
After
the defense rested, Joyce took the stand. The Judge showed her the
pictures of the gate and guardhouse that were entered into evidence and asked
Joyce where the gates were and where the guardhouse was. It was noted
that there was quite a distance between the two. Joyce continued her
testimony by reading a moving statement about why she was there. She said
that she stands with Jim and Bonnie in saying that silence is complicity.
She also talked about how all human life is precious. (See full statement
below.)
When
she finished, DA Solovey asked that her complete statement be stricken from the
record, and the judge quickly sustained the motion. We were all shocked
by this, and later Joyce stated, “There were two areas in which I felt
blindsided by Judge Curran and District Attorney Solovey: The first was
when Mr. Solovey asked that my testimony be stricken from the record as
irrelevant to the trespassing charge and the judge immediately sustained his
request. There was not even time to raise an objection and I was stunned
by this action which was inconsistent with allowing me and my codefendants in
the past to enter our statements into the record.”
That
was it. Curran never actually pronounced a verdict stating Joyce was
guilty. He said that an issue was raised that caught his attention.
He questioned why we were not allowed to go to the guard house which was quite
a ways from the gates – if that was the standard procedure for others
arriving at Volk Field. But then Curran said he got the answer from the
deputy who said we were told that we were not supposed to go beyond the gates,
so that solved that problem according to the judge. He told Joyce she did
trespass.
Looking
back, I think this was a ruse on the part of the judge. He is presiding
over eight almost identical cases and I can imagine he doesn’t want it to look
like he is just automatically finding us all guilty, so in this case he can say
he did question whether we should have been arrested or not – whether we
actually did trespass.
Joyce
asked him about doing community service with Rev. Terry McGinley, who has
offered to all of us and to the judge that he would supervise and report back
to the court on our community service so that there would be no cost to the
court in administering it. Judge Curran said that the trespass charge is
an ordinance violation and it is not worth the time for Rev. McGinley to
supervise us in community service and so he would not allow that.
He
ordered Joyce to pay a $232 fine within 60 days or it would be attached to her
income tax. This tactic, which he also used in Bonnie’s trial, does not
allow us to choose to spend the five days in jail. For many of us, it
goes against our conscience to pay the fine and we would prefer the jail time over
paying the fine, but now Judge Curran has discovered a way to prevent that.
Joyce
discusses this as the second time she felt blind-sided during the trial, “The
second was when the judge, without ever announcing a verdict, indicated
community service was not an option and announced a fine of $232 with a 60
day limit to pay or to have the amount attached to my income tax return.
I had asked for community service as an option, as had Mrs. Bonnie Block, whose
trial preceded mine by two weeks. Rev. Terry McGinley, a local
clergyperson was in court with me and had agreed to act as supervisor for that
service and report my hours to the court. He had three Mauston
non-profits lined up who were willing participants. Judge Curran
maintained that this would be too onerous on the court. I find that a
specious argument. My impression is that the judge and district attorney
are attempting to use their authority to tighten restrictions and options for
us in the hope that we will go away. They really do not understand that our
witness is not about power or winning, but about standing with the powerless,
often innocent, victims of our country’s illegal, immoral and counterproductive
drone warfare."
And
so we will continue our resistance both at the base and in court.
Joyce’s
statement on the stand
Good
afternoon, Judge
I
would like to read a brief statement into the record this afternoon.
I
stand with Fr. Jim Murphy and with Mrs. Bonnie Block in the conviction that
silence in the face of the injustice of the immoral, illegal and
counterproductive drone warfare being carried out by our government makes us
complicit in these crimes. And I fully endorse and support their
testimonies before this court. By the way, judge, Bonnie had her surgery
this morning and is doing well.
For
me, the bottom line is that every life is precious, whether that be the life of
my husband, my children, my grandchildren, my friends, drone pilots, or their
victims...every life, equally precious to God and to me.
Former
drone pilots are coming forward to share the trauma associated with their
job. The Air Force now offers incentives up to $125,000 I am told,
to enlist drone pilots. And the shortage of those willing to serve is so
severe that the Air Force is contracting with private companies to provide
drone pilots. That should give us pause. The pilots being trained
at Volk Field are part of an interconnected strategy of identifying potential
terrorists and their sympathizers for destruction.
Based on often
unreliable intelligence, people are targeted and killed. It is not
surprising, then, that the incidences of PTSD and suicide of drone pilots
mirrors and sometimes exceeds that of combat troops on the ground. How
can you look at the strewn body parts of the men, women and children you have
killed and not be affected. The trauma to the communities and families
who endure drone attacks and drone killing is incredible: daily surveillance
from the sky; fear of letting their children go outside to play or go to
school; afraid to attend weddings, funerals, community gatherings; afraid even
to offer assistance when drone strikes happen because of the double tap strike
likely to follow minutes afterward.
Their
suffering is beyond words. The legal arguments we have presented in the
past are in the court record. I will not elaborate on them here,
except to say that I believe that the U.S., as a country that subscribes to the
rule of law, must honor those international laws, courts and declarations we
say we subscribe to, but only seem to uphold when it is in our self interest.
The
Haitians, some of the poorest people in our hemisphere, have a wonderful
proverb, “We see from where we stand.” We stand in different places,
judge, trying to hold on to our piece of the truth. Sue Frankel-Streit, a
member of a Catholic Worker Community in Virginia, puts it well: “There
are times in the lives of all people of conscience when the truth in one's
heart is in such deep opposition to the falsehood of the world that one must
put everything else in life aside and act upon the truth.” I take full
responsibility for my actions on August 5, and would only ask that you stand with
me and my co-defendants to understand that there is nothing criminal in our
intent or actions. I cannot in good conscience be silent, nor can I in
good conscience pay a fine for speaking my piece of the truth.
Did
you receive the letter I sent you on January 19? As you know, it concerns
the possibility of community service. I have left a copy with the court
clerk and ask that it be included in the record.
I
cheerfully and hopefully await the verdict of the court. I do not think
you were comfortable in sending Fr. Murphy to jail, and I certainly agree
that is a needless expense. I hope you will consider community service as
an option this court will adopt for Juneau County residents as well as
us. I would ask for permission for the possibility of a short statement
from Rev. McGinley after the verdict is announced and before sentencing, and
also of a question for you, judge, should I be found guilty.
Joyce’s
letter to the judge pre-trial regarding the possibility of community service
January
19, 2015
Hon.
Paul S. Curran, Judge
Juneau
County Circuit Courthouse
200
Oak Street
Mauston,
WI 53948-1349
Dear
Judge Curran:
I
am writing today to inform you that, should I be found guilty of trespass to
land at my trial on January 22 at 1:45 in your court, I will be asking for
community service in lieu of jail time or a fine.
This
issue came up at the trial of Bonnie Block, my co-defendant, at her trial
on January 8 before your court. My understanding of your remarks at that
time is that you needed more time to think through whether you will accept this
option for her. So, I am bringing to your attention now, in writing, my
request for community service.
I
am also writing to explain my particular situation. I am providing home
hospice care for Robert Love, a 67-year old man, a member of my congregation,
Hephatha Lutheran Church, 1740 W. Locust, here in Milwaukee. Mr. Love
lives in a small cottage in our backyard. He spent most of his life in
prison on drug-related charges, and no plans were made for his housing upon his
release. We were able to put him in the cottage, and he has been with us
for about five years. After having three productive years of employment,
the COPD from which he suffers became severe enough that he could no longer
work. Today, he spends his days in a hospital bed, and I support the
hospice nurses who look in on him two days a week by preparing his meals,
keeping his house, doing his laundry, seeing to his bodily needs-emptying
urinals, helping with changing Depends etc., and overseeing his meds and oxygen
supply. He is expected to die within the next six months, actually, the
nurses are surprised he is still alive today. Mr. Love has no family
nearby, and the family he has visited him only once in the last five years, and
cannot provide help to him at this time.
I
can be supervised in giving care to Mr. Love by the Aurora Hospice nurses with
whom I share responsibility for his care. If this is not an acceptable
community service I would ask to be supervised by Rev. Terry McGinley, who will
be present at my trial to provide service through his church or another
non-profit in Mauston which he has contacted and agreed to such service.
To be transparent, I would hope that I might do that service from here
(something like data entry, mailings, thank you notes, etc.).
Trusting
that you will give this your thoughtful consideration, I am prepared to
cheerfully accept your judgment on January 22.
Sincerely
yours,
Joyce
Ellwanger
Case
# 15 FO431
No comments:
Post a Comment