Please join us this Sunday at GA, 2PM, downtown Post Office steps, to envision and plan any Occupy Santa Cruz actions around this case.
UPDATE: Linda Lemaster writes from Facebook:
No trial, all postponed. “There is no courtroom available,” said Judge Salazar. My attorney pulled time waver. The DA submitted more papers of argument today. The NEXT trial readiness hearing will be on Hallow’e'en, didn’t catch the time.
[[Ed note: This update was added Fri 12 Oct 2012 at 3PM. -- GX]]
You are cordially invited to attend “Cafe HUFF” outside of the courthouse this Monday morning, October 15, before and during the “Jury Selection” period of Linda’s trial for 647(e). Coffee and breakfast to be provided. POSTPONED
A few other details have changed, as it is now to be heard in Dept. 1 by Honorable Rebecca Connolly. [This item was poached and updated from Linda's posting on indybay.org/santacruz --Leslie]
[[ http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/10/01/18722775.php -- GX]]
Please take action to support Linda! She asks folks to join her in silence, “perhaps in the Atrium,” during the first ten minutes of “lunch” on Monday and Tuesday [no set time, as the court schedule is fluid]. She also requests financial support to offset some of her attorneys’ “hard costs” for photocopying.
Other actions may occur autonomously to highlight Linda’s courage in fighting the sleeping ban during PeaceCamp2010!
| Title: | ‘Lodging 647(e) Trial’ Launches, Dept 1, Superior Court |
| START DATE: | |
| TIME: | 9:00 AM – 9:00 AM |
| Location Details: | |
| Santa Cruz Superior Court, 701 Ocean St, Courtroom/Dept #1.Santa Cruz 95060 (very very close where citation originated…) | |
| Event Type: | Court Date |
| Contact Name | Linda Ellen Lemaster |
| Email Address | homes4everyone [at] yahoo.com |
| Phone Number | |
| Address | |
| This Lodging Trial, for a ticket I received in the wee hours, California’s PC Lodging 647(e), has been slowly moving thru’ time for two years and a month, since PeaceCamp2010, toward trial.PC2010 held a First Amendment demonstration and protest on the Courthouse steps, in support of homeless people who have to sleep outside.In the City of Santa Cruz, the anti-sleeping, anti-camping ban 6.36.010 (still) criminalizes anyone sleeping outside in public. And this City’s definition of “sleeping” includes having a blanket over one’s self even if obviously awake.STILL you get a ticket. STILL you probably have to go to court, and then try to outrun any warrant, all this for a night’s *maybe* sleep in the dirt or concrete.The City’s anti-sleep law adds significantly to the dangers homeless people here face, including undue stress and criminalization (which never seems to end if one is without money).It invokes our collective memories of sleeplessness as torture, for some of us.True, this is just an opinion, but other knowledgeable people share this opinion, and Applied Survey Research’s alternate-year suveys of homeless people themselves also confirms my viewpoint.So anyway, in August 2010, the County’s Sheriff’s Deputies (and apparently others?) selected “Lodging 647(e)” as a tool to — so it seemed — make our demonstration go away. See Indymedia Santa Cruz and SC Sentinel, summer 2010, and my own story in Street Spirit .org for Sept 2011 to learn more about PeaceCamp2010.[At the 'trial readiness' hearing on October 10th, a shift in the court did occur. The case is to be heard in Department 1, Honorable Rebecca Connolly's courtroom, same time on Lodging is being used to push homeless people around in California, despite its historic use as a catch-all for status crimes. Can we dislodge this unfair, double-standard abuse of power? My pro-bono attorney Jonathan “Che” Gettleman has already taken the “lodging law” through a kind of legal appeal, a Writ of Habeus Corpus. He and his partner, Eric Nelson, will be presenting my case after Jury Selection, starting If you can help this way, my lawyers need funding for their hard costs such as copying expenses. I will be spending the first ten minutes of “lunch” on Monday and Tuesday in quiet meditation, perhaps in the Atrium. Join me in silence if you like, or consider being a friendly witness of this trial. All caring support profoundly appreciated. Besides my attorneys, I am grateful already to Occupy Santa Cruz, to Homeless Persons Legal Support, to Housing NOW! in Santa Cruz, and to my personal care-givers for helping keep me focused and upright, so far. Anyone who has information about the ‘mia’ lodging tickets received by Occupy campers last year — and perhaps subsequently transfigured into tresspass charges? — also just outside the Courthouse but on Water St side, I would love to be in touch with you soon? Thanks. Linda Ellen Lemaster |
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3 Responses to “Occupy Santa Cruz demands all charges be dropped for Linda Lemaster for 647(e)”
I’ll be at or near the courthouse Monday, Oct 15th, despite trial’s postponement. In silence, for ten minutes, hoping others may join me in this kind of prayer. I will TRY to come to G.A. Sunday, too, but may not have wheels/gasoline so therefore mine’s a maybe for Sunday!
Since there will be no “lunch break” Monday–as the trial on the 15th has been postponed two weeks–what time will Linda be showing?
Where will it be? At the atrium area between the courthouse and the county building? In front of the courthouse at the main entrance? At the Water St. steps area where Occupy gathers every Wednesday?
Inquiring minds want to know!
My first choice is in front of the main doors, where PeaceCamp2010 somehow thrived for two months, including somehow, much shrunk admittedly after being attacked by the state in the form of County Shariff Deputies. As it may be chilly or in use for pedestrian folk then, my second thought is the Atrium: beautiful, often under-crowded. Look for quiet, stillness. Nonviolent supporters welcome. I may bring a sign?