Post by CCADP on Jun 15, 2005 10:07:13 GMT -5
On Thursday, June 16th, Aaron Patterson will return to court to find out whether the Honorable Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer plans to throw out federal drug and gun possession and distribution charges filed against him on August 5, 2004.
Since the news of his arrest was announced and published by major media outlets, Aaron has vehemently claimed that he has been again, falsely arrested and imprisoned by local and federal officials who have conspired to silence his community activism for justice. When the news broke last year that he had been arrested we all were shocked, enraged and disappointed. Aaron assured his family, friends, and anybody else that would listen, that he was innocent, and that he knew that he was being targeted. Why? Aaron had been busy.
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Remember, not only had Aaron filed a 30 million dollar wrongful conviction, civil lawsuit against the city of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County States Attorneys office, he challenged Mayor Daley’s candidate for state representative, Patricia Bailey, when he initiated an investigation that resulted in the indictment of Ms. Bailey for vote fraud in 2004. He also “offended” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and Mayor Daley by disrupting their gun control press conference, February 3, 2004, at which time he and others demanded answers to community questions about the police murders of three young black men.
Since being freed from Death Row, Aaron had been working as an investigator for Northwestern University Journalism professor, David Protess. He worked with organizations all over the city to expose police abuse of power, brutality, and corruption. He stayed true to his word to help expose coercion that occurred in police headquarters throughout Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, most notably Areas 1, 2, 3, and 5. He joined with us to demand investigations into numerous of these cases handled by former police commander Jon Burge, and his trainees, including Detectives Kenneth Boudreaux and John Halloran.
Back to the case…
According to newspaper reports, the informant, Mario “Fox” Maldanado, was paid over $6,000 to seduce Aaron into purchasing guns and drugs. Transcripts of at least one conversation reveal that Aaron told Fox he wanted, “…Replicas, something that looks real, but ain’t real…” Because this information was not submitted to the grand jury, Aaron’s lawyer petitioned the court a second time to throw out the case because the state failed to submit all information to the grand jury.
Those of us, who know Aaron, have worked with Aaron and/or benefited from his “fearless” cries for justice on behalf of the wrongfully convicted, couldn’t believe than nor do we believe now, that Aaron had the time or the inclination to engage in activities leading to the purchase of guns and drugs.
Based upon Aaron’s activities since he was pardoned and released from Death Row, as well as his future plans, including fatherhood, one must ask does it make any reasonable sense that he would jeopardize his future.
Many of us have benefited from the work Aaron has done since his release two years ago. He’s been our voice many times before public officials and the media. Please join me and other concerned citizens who believe in Aaron’s innocence this Thursday, June 16th at 10:30am, 219 South Dearborn Street, Courtroom Number 2119.
Sincerely,
Bertha Escamilla
