UPDATE ON OSCAR GRANT ARRESTEES STILL BEING HELD

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/07/22/18654508.php

East Bay | Police State and Prisons | Racial Justice
Update on Oscar Grant arrestees still being held
by GabbySF
Thursday Jul 22nd, 2010 10:54 AM

    This is an update on those arrested on 7/8 and still being help in Santa Rita with felony charges and high bails. Unfortunately since all the arrestees are being charged and represented separately, I do not have much info on most of those still being held. Please add any info you have. There is call out from one of the NLG lawyers for footage that may help his client.

I haven’t seen much posted about the few people still being held in jail from the Oscar Grant protest on 7/8, so I figured I’d write something. Please add comments if you have any more information.

As far as I know, there are 9 people still being held in Santa Rita on felony charges. These range from commercial burglary, arson, petty theft, possession of stolen property, and one possession of drugs. Unlike most protests where people are often charged together, have group lawyers, have the same court dates, and can enter pleas together, these people are each being dragged through the court system separately. My guess is this is one reason why there has been little press.

A good friend of mine is one of the people in jail. She is familiar with the process and had the NLG # written on her arm in case she was arrested for taking pictures (which she was). She and another friend of hers who was arrested are now each being represented by an NLG lawyer. I have no idea what is happening with the other 7 arrestees.

I can speak on my friend’s case, since that is the only one I really have info on. Her lawyer said that the judge in the case is a good, fair judge. The fact they he will not lower the $70,000 bail hints to the pressure the court and the DA are under to make someone pay for what happened. Today (7/22/10) the lawyer is meeting with the DA in a pre-trial hearing to see where the DA is coming from and get an idea of what they are up against. He is not too hopeful that the DA or the judge will change their stance.

The next preliminary hearing for 2 of the arrestees, Sarah Thibault (my friend) and Laramie Elliot will be Monday 7/26 in Oakland. For some reason the location of the hearing has been removed from the website. I hope it will be back up before Monday morning. Sarah’s lawyer says her best bet is for someone to come forward with video/still pictures footage showing that she was taking pictures and not involved in the 2 felonies the cops says she was participating in. If anyone knows Sarah and has footage or if anyone has footage from Whole Foods around 10:30pm and/or footage from West Grand and Telegraph after that until the arrests at 11:10pm, please contact Sarah’s lawyer: John Hamasaki, Address: 1112 Bryant Street, 3rd Floor, SF, CA 9410, Tel: (415) 525-4245, Fax: (415) 618-0073, Email: john [at] hamasakilaw.com.

If anyone has information on any of the other arrestees or anything else related to the case, please post it. There needs to be more press on behalf of those in jail.
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