[syndicate] FW: [transform] Dear supporters of Steve Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble

Mon Jan 23 01:34:01 CET 2006

FW: [transform] Dear supporters of Steve Kurtz and Critical Art EnsembleHope

I could not believe it at first. I thought it was a sort of critical new event from the Critical Art Ensemble..

But the news were true. It was not of a critical game. Then, the nightmare will go on..
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Guilherme Kujawski 
  To: syndicate at anart.no 
  Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 12:49 AM
  Subject: [syndicate] FW: [transform] Dear supporters of Steve Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble

  ----- @@@@@@ -----> http://www.warrenheise.com/index_print.html

  -----Original Message-----
  From: birgit at eipcp.net [mailto:birgit at eipcp.net]
  Sent: Sun 1/22/2006 5:33 PM
  To: transform-list at eipcp.net
  Subject: [transform] Dear supporters of Steve Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble

  -PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY-

  January 17, 2006

  Dear supporters of Steve Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble,

  Your support is needed now more than ever.

  Whereas the hopes for dismissal of Steve's case were high last fall, on
  Thursday we received bad news on
  the recommendation concerning the pre-trial motions. Although it has
  been over 18 months since Steve was
  charged with "mail fraud" and "wire fraud"-charges carrying a maximum
  possible sentence of 20 years in
  jail-he will now have to wait at least 8 months, and possibly much
  longer, for the final decision on these
  motions. (Please see http://www.caedefensefund.org for more about the
  case.)

  Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroeder recommended that all our motions for
  dismissal of the case and suppression
  of evidence be denied, with one exception: there will be a hearing on
  the suppression of statements made
  while Steve was illegally detained. (Schroeder's recommendations also
  include a footnote stating that
  since Steve's co-defendant Robert Ferrell is gravely ill at this point,
  Ferrell's case is being held in
  dormancy.)

  Magistrate Schroeder's recommendations will next go to the Federal
  District Court to be heard by Judge John
  T. Elfvin, who will make the final ruling on the pre-trial motions,
  thereby determining whether or not
  the case will go to trial. If the motions are denied by Elfvin, Steve
  can choose to appeal to the next
  higher federal court, or go directly to trial.

  LEGAL DETAILS AND TIMELINE

  Schroeder's recommendation cited legal precedent that "An indictment
  returned by a legally constituted and
  unbiased grand jury. if valid on its face, is enough to call for trial
  of the charge" [even if] "the grand
  jury acted on the basis of inadequate or incompetent evidence." (Please see
  http://www.caedefensefund.org/announcements/order1.12.06.pdf
  for the full text of the recommendation.) In other words, once the legal
  machine is turned on, it is very
  difficult to turn off. Therefore, supporters should prepare for the
  likelihood that Steve's case will go
  to trial.

  Within the next 10 days Steve's lawyer, Paul Cambria, will file an
  appeal of Schroeder's recommendations.
  Steve's lawyers will then get a hearing for their appeal of all of
  Schroeder's recommendations in Judge
  Elfvin's court. There, Cambria will make essentially all the same
  arguments as at the hearing last spring
  before Schroeder. (For the press release detailing those arguments and
  more information about the case,
  please see http://www.caedefensefund.org/releases/051705_Release.html)
  This appeal hearing will probably happen in mid-summer of 2006. We will
  then have to wait once again for
  Elfvin's final ruling on all the motions for dismissal and suppression.

  (There is no date for the other hearing, on the suppression of
  statements, but it will happen sometime
  within the next 60 days.)

  SUPPORT NEEDED MORE THAN EVER

  Although any actual trial is still far off, your continued support has
  made, and continues to make, all
  the difference in this case. Without your support, Steve would probably
  be in jail now awaiting trial. As
  we know, justice in politically motivated trials is won in the court of
  public opinion as much as in the
  court of law.

  Because of your support, we have raised the more than $200,000 necessary
  for Steve and Robert Ferrell's
  defense. Due to the overwhelming success of this fundraising effort,
  there are 3 main forms of support
  that we now need:

  1) Publicizing this precedent-setting case and its implications for
  artists, intellectuals, researchers
  and others-particularly in outlets that will reach the Buffalo
  population. In this regard, we are still
  hoping for a real investigative story into the DoJ's and prosecuting
  District Attorney William Hochul's
  motivations in this case. Anyone who is interested or knows such a
  journalist-particularly one who could
  spend some time in the Buffalo area-is encouraged to contact the Defense
  Fund at: media (at)
  caedefensefund.org

  2) Publicizing this case wherever possible. Anyone interested in helping
  to publicize this case through
  creative means at the College Art Association Annual Conference
  (February 22-25 in Boston) please contact
  the Defense Fund at: media (at) caedefensefund.org

  3) At the time of the actual trial, should one occur, helping to
  mobilize support for a massive
  demonstration in Buffalo, NY.

  Thank you once again for your continued support.

  In solidarity,

  The CAE Defense Fund
  media @ caedefensefund.org

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