NATO 3 Court Date Set for One Day Before Two-Year Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street

The People’s Law Office in Chicago – which is representing one of the original “NATO 3” activists preemptively arrested before the May 2012 NATO Summit and charged with conspiracy to commit an act of “domestic terrorism” – wrote an update blog post on Nov. 19 that revealed their court date has been set for Sept. 16, 2013.

This is one day before the two-year anniversary of the launch of Occupy Wall Street, which began on Sept. 17, 2011.

Michael Deutsch and Sarah Gelsomino are the attorneys at the People’s Law Office representing Brian Jacob Church, one of the original “NATO 3” turned “NATO 5.” The “NATO 3” activists’ bonds have been set at $1.5 million per person and though they have been sitting in jail for six months, their attorneys still have not received much of the information they requested as part of the “discovery” phase that takes place during the pre-trial phase.

“Thus far, through the course of the discovery phase, the prosecution has provided thousands of pages of documents and dozens of discs,” explained the People’s Law Office. “However, there are numerous items which attorneys for the three defendants have specifically requested which have not been provided. In addition, there is content from several computers and electronics seized from the raid which has been placed on a 2 terabyte hard drive. A mirror image of that hard drive has yet to be turned over to the defense counsel.”

The People’s Law Office believes the charges are “trumped-up [and] politically motivated,” with the evidence gathered and obtained by the prosecutors coming via two undercover police informant infiltrators, “Mo” and “Gloves.

When all is said and done, the “NATO 3” will have spent roughly 16 months in prison before their trial even begins, a potential violation of the 6th Amendment’s “speedy trial” clause.