Grand Jury Resistors Katherine Olejnik and Matthew Duran to be Released From “Detainment” After 5 Months

By JG Vibes
theintelhub.com
February 28, 2013
Over the past few months I have been writing regular articles about a growing group of activists on the west coast who have had their lives torn apart by the police and the legal system, simply because they are refusing to answer any questions in a grand jury case.
Even worse, this case is regarding crimes that they have absolutely no connection to, as they were not even in the same state at the time that the alleged crimes took place.
The witch hunt is continuing to expand, putting new people like Maddy Pfeiffer behind bars without any formal charges.  However, some good news has come this week as the first two resistors are finally being released from prison.  Unfortunately, like any prisoner they were not treated like human beings and their health has drastically deteriorated.
Thestranger.com reported that:

Judge Jones has granted Duran and Olejnik’s attorneys’ request to release their clients, who have been in prison—without convictions or charges—for five months and in solitary confinement for two months.
I wrote about visiting them in prison, and how they got there, in this story.
More details after I get Judge Jones’s ruling—but this is happy, happy news. And it’s a correction of a situation in the justice system that has seemed very, very far from just.
The third grand jury refuser, Maddie Pfeiffer, is still in prison, but his attorney did not join the motion to file for his release. That motion, I’m guessing, isn’t far away.
Of course, they might eventually be charged with criminal contempt—but at least that would have a semblance of due process, an opportunity for a public trial, and a fixed term of incarceration instead of you-just-sit-in-this-cold-cell-until-you-tell-us-what-we-want-to-hear.
You know, the stuff most American citizens expect when dealing with judicial branch of American government.
Judge Jones’s ruling is here, with selected paragraphs after the jump. In short, it reiterates what we’ve been saying for many months: That they weren’t there on May Day, that their confinement is looking awfully punitive even though it’s not legally supposed to be, that they have shown their resolve to not testify, and that the feds are asking them for testimony that would be tangential at best. (Not who threw the brick through the window?, but who is this person and what are her political and social affiliations?)

The judges statement included the following:

Both Ms. Olejnik and Mr. Duran have provided extensive declarations explaining that although they wish to end their confinement, they will never end their confinement by testifying. The court finds their declarations persuasive. They have been submitted to five months of confinement. For a substantial portion of that confinement, they have been held in the special housing unit of the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, during which they have had no other contact with detainees, very little contact even with prison staff, and exceedingly limited ability to communicate with the outside world…
The government does dispute the witnesses’ assertions that confinement in the special housing until entails 23 hours of solitary confinement in their cells and an hour of solitary time alone in a larger room each day, a single fifteen-minute phone call each month (as opposed to five hours of monthly phone time for detainees outside the special housing until), and exceedingly limited access to reading and writing material. Their physical health has deteriorated sharply and their mental health has also suffered from the effects of solitary confinement.
Their confinement has cost them; they have suffered the loss of jobs, income, and important personal relationships. They face the possibility of criminal convictions for contempt… both she and Mr. Duran have nonetheless refused to testify…
The court has observed both Ms. Olejnik and Mr. Duran in their prior appearances before the court. Whatever the merits of their choices not to testify, their demeanor has never given the court reason to doubt their sincerity or the strength of their convictions.
The witnesses and the government also invite the court to consider arguments specific to the grand jury investigation at issue. The witnesses argue, for example, that any testimony they could offer would be, at best, tangential to the investigation… Although they remain in contempt of court, the court finds no basis for their continued confinement.

It is actually fairly common for activists and journalists to get railroaded into jail through grand jury cases, video journalist Josh Wolf, for example, served seven and a half months in 2006 and 2007 for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury and turn over his footage of a protest in San Francisco.  Grand jury trials are very shady ordeals, which have totally different rules than the typical court case.  Defense attorneys are not even allowed to be present, and the proceedings of the case are completely secret.
According to the grand jury infosheet on antipolitics.com:

“Since their inception, both in England and in the United States, grand juries have been used against political dissidents, the jurors often being hand-picked to ensure indictment. A modern variation on this abuse of power relies on political activists’ reluctance to turn informant. Activists are subpoenaed with the expectation that they will refuse to testify, and thus end up in jail for lengthy periods. The person who was subpoenaed is thereby immobilized, while other activists are deterred from further participation.”

These innocent people must be traumatized by this experience, and as i have written about recently, people like this need just as much, if not, more support and comfort in regards to dealing with PTSD than those in uniform do.
*****
Read more articles by this author HERE.
J.G. Vibes is the author of an 87 chapter counter-culture textbook called Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance, a staff writer, reporter for theintelhub.com and Executive Producer of the Bob Tuskin Radio Show.