Michigan
Emergency Committee
Against
War & Injustice
5920 Second Avenue, Detroit 48202 313 680 5508 MECAWI.org
April 27, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press
Conference: Wed., May 11, 2016
Outside
Michigan Court of Appeals: 350 Ottawa NW, Grand Rapids, 49503
11:30
AM
CONTACT: DAVID SOLE
313 680 5508
Court of Appeals to
hear case of
Michigan Political
Prisoner, the Rev. Edward Pinkney, May 11
After 17 months
behind bars, the Rev. Edward Pinkney’s case will finally be heard by the
Michigan Court of Appeals in Grand Rapids. A three judge panel will hear oral
arguments from Rev. Pinkney’s attorney, Tim Holloway, along with an attorney
representing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Holloway, the ACLU and
the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) all filed lengthy appeal briefs back in
September and November of 2015. Supporters of Rev. Pinkney will be traveling
from all across Michigan to pack the court (10 AM) and will hold a press
conference following the court session outside the courthouse at 11:30 AM.
Rev.
Pinkney, an African American community organizer from Benton Harbor, Michigan,
was charged with changing five dates on petitions to recall then mayor James
Hightower in 2014. At trial absolutely no evidence was ever presented that
linked Rev. Pinkney to the alleged altered petition dates. There were no
witnesses, no confession, no handwriting testimony and no chain of custody to
the petitions which were handled by many different people.
The
all-white jury was told by the prosecutor that they didn’t need evidence and
that they should convict Rev. Pinkney because he was a leader of the recall
campaign, spoke at press conferences, organized legal picket lines against
Whirlpool Corp. and “invited Jesse Jackson to Benton Harbor.” This outrageous
argument by prosecutor Sepic was allowed by Judge Schrock. The jury dutifully
convicted Rev. Pinkney and he was sentenced to 2.5 to 10 years in prison.
The
ACLU and NLG joined the case with amicus curiae briefs because of the serious
threat to everyone’s civil liberties if the prosecutor’s argument is allowed to
stand and be applied to other activists and protestors. Leaders can be
convicted with no evidence except their role in Constitutionally protected free
speech and assembly activities.
Supporters
of Rev. Pinkney have worked tirelessly for the past two years to demand his
freedom and to demand an end to the harassment and abuse that he has suffered
inside the prisons, particularly the remote Marquette Branch Prison in the
Upper Peninsula, 500 miles away from his wife and friends.
