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NATO 3: Cook County Judge Rules Illinois Terrorism Statute Constitutional

Chicago, IL

Judge Thaddeus Wilson – holding down the house in Room 303 of the Cook County Courthouse in Chicago, IL – ruled the Illinois terrorism statute constitutional on its face.

This ruling was issued approximately two months after the attorneys defending the three clients known as the “NATO 3” issued a motion and memorandum arguing the law defied the dictates of the First Amendment because it is overly-broad as currently written, an argument rejected by Wilson.

Thus, it was confirmed that the three activists – Jared Chase from Keene, NH; Brent Betterly from Fort Lauderdale, FL; and Brian Church also from Fort Lauderdale – who were in the Windy City to protest the May 2012 NATO Summit will be charged by the State of Illinois with three counts of “conspiracy to commit terrorism,” “material support for terrorism,” and possession of an incendiary device (allegedly molotov cocktails) to “commit the offense of terrorism.”

“Mo” and “Gloves”

Mentioned only obliquely by Wilson in his ruling: two undercover police informants who played a role in pushing the terrorism plot forward, potentially manufacturing it wholesale and then slapping the label “terrorism” on it.

Known in Chicago activist circles in the run-up to the NATO Summit as “Mo” and “Nadia”/”Gloves,” Nadia is mentioned directly but not by name in Wilson’s ruling as someone “believed [to be a] co-conspirator” when Church asked her if she was “ready to see a cop on fire” in the days leading up to the Summit.

“Nadia” wore a hidden recording device while having a slew of meetings with the “NATO 3” from May 1-May 16, 2012, the audio from which has been used as the evidence for the prosecution of the three.

“We think the terrorism charges should’ve never been brought in the first place,” Michael Deutsch of the People’s Law Office, an attorney co-representing Brian Church with Gelsomino, said in an interview. “It’s not a terrorism case, it never was and it never should’ve been – it’s politically-motivated use for improper purposes.”

The Scene From Within

The hearing unfolded roughly a week after a key oral argument between the two parties, lasting a mere 15 minutes in a small circular room featuring a painting of Martin Luther King, Jr. resting on the wall behind the left shoulder of Judge Wilson. Held in a room sealed off by sound-proof glass, the sound inside the courtroom was projected via a microphone and the speakers sitting on the other side of that glass.

Three uniformed police officers sat with the defendants in the front room and another four stood with the audience in the glassed-off back room featuring two columns of wooden church-like pews that ran three rows deep. Roughly 20 Chicago-area activists came out in support of the activists, many of them donning yellow shirts in solidarity with the “NATO 3,” two out of three who were also ushered out in yellow “protective-custody-level” IL Department of Corrections (DOC) prison garb.

“It’s what a lot of scholars and people who pay attention to national security call the ‘new normal.’ That is, because the terrorism statute is in play, you end up having police officers sitting in bullet proof vests in the court room,” attorney Thomas Durkin of Durkin & Roberts, representing Jared Chase, said in an interview. “Over time, you’ve got what legal scholars call ‘seepage,’ in which these ‘new normals’ start seeping into the court room incrementally.”

The hearing had an ominous feeling from jump street, with the State of Illinois bringing a nine-person cadre to Chicago, much bigger than the usual three-person team attending the hearings so far. Prior to the hearing’s commencement, People’s Law Office attorney Sarah Gelsomino, co-representing Brian Church, came to the attendants’ gallery and told supporters to remain calm because the ruling would likely not be favorable – a doomsaying hypothesis which merely 15 minutes later proved true.

Court Date Set for Two-Year Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street

Two other activists charged with similar crimes, Mark Neiweem and Sebastian Senakiewicz – part of the broader “NATO 5″ – also are still sitting in Cook County Jail with the “NATO 3” awaiting their final destiny. The Jail was under federal investigation for its conditions in 2008.

A final trial date for the “NATO 3” is still set for Sept. 16, 2013, the day before the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“NATO 3”: Constitutionality of Illinois Terrorism Statute to be Decided March 27

Judge Thaddeus Wilson will hand down a ruling on the constitutionality of the Illinois terrorism statute – signed into law in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks – on March 27 at 2:00 PM CST.

That announcement was made at the first oral argument at Cook County Courthouse in Chicago, IL on March 18, which I attended and reported on for TruthOut. It took place between the People’s Law Office/other attorneys representing the “NATO 3” and the State of Illinois.

The domestic terrorism case, which started in May 2012 in the days leading up to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Chicago, has taken many interesting twists and turns since the start of the new year.

In January, the “NATO 3” defense team lead by the People’s Law Office issued a facial challenge to the IL Terrorism Statute. That motion posited that the statute’s verbiage is overly broad and in violation of the spirit of the First Amendment and due process rights.

As covered here on Antiwar.com, two confidential informants known by the names “Mo” and “Gloves”/”Nadia” helped push the plot along and were in the apartment during a violent military-style midnight raid that saw 11 swept up and held (nine, not including them) and the three young men now known as the “NATO 3” slapped with terrorism charges and a still-standing $1.5 million bond per person. They were in-town to protest NATO’s wars abroad, a week of action culminating in a march of thousands of people across downtown Chicago and many Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans tossing away their medals.

The three have sat in Cook County Jail for ten months, the largest prison in the US and one investigated by the federal government for its shoddy conditions.

Among the more interesting things to come out of the hearing is the fact that the defense has yet to receive many of the discovery materials it has asked for, including key evidence pertaining to the facts under which its clients are being charged. Further, the State of Illinois prosecutors argued that a facial challenge isn’t credible in this situation because the State wasn’t dealing with a hypothetical, but an “imminent threat” that the broadly-written and rarely-used statute was meant to cover to stop preemptively.

Regardless of the ruling Wilson hands down, the trial is sure to wear on for months to come, with a final trial date set for Sept. 16, a day before the two-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street.

New Photo Released of “Gloves,” One of the Two NATO Summit Undercover Cops

Occupy Chicago has released another photo of “Gloves,” one of the two undercover police informants from the May 2012 NATO Summit, which took place in Chicago, IL. They have placed it on Facebook and Twitter.

“Gloves,” acting as an infiltrator in the run-up to the Summit, oversaw the operation that ended in three activists – now known as the “NATO 3” – being charged with “conspiracy to commit and act of domestic terrorism” under Illinois state law, the first time the charge has ever been utilized in the state’s history. Two more activists were also entrapped by “Gloves” and “Mo,” making the group of so-called “domestic terrorists” now coloquially known as the “NATO 5.”

The photo was obtained via a snapshot of a video of an October 2011 rally that is up on YouTube (at about 3:38 in), suggesting that “Gloves” has been hot on the trail of Occupy Chicago for months and was deeply familiar with the local activist scene, its culture and its intricacies months ahead of the NATO Summit.

“This photo is further evidence that our movement was not infiltrated by CPD to expose an existing plan for violence,” Occupy Chicago’s press liaison, Rachel Unterman told Antiwar.com. “It’s not a coincidence – they have been watching and seeking any excuse to discredit us from the start.”

The trial for the “NATO 3” will take place on Sept. 16, almost two years to the date after the official launch of Occupy Wall Street.

Rolling Stone‘s Rick Perlstein explained in a story back in May – after the “Cleveland 5” had been arrested for conspiracy to commit an act of “domestic terrorism” on May Day – that no “domestic terrorism” charge has ever been overturned in the post-9/11 era.

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.