NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5329

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Via The NY Transfer News Service ~ All the News that Doesn't Fit

From: [e-mail] (autonome forum)

from ARM THE SPIRIT #12 (MARCH - MAY 1992)


              CLOSING STATEMENT OF RICHARD WILLIAMS

Richard Williams was convicted of the charges against him on
February 6, 1992 and received a sentence of 30 years to life on
top of an already existing sentence stemming from his
participation in the armed clandestine movement (see our last
issue - #11 - for more information.


Closing Trial Statement Of Richard Williams

At this point it is customary for defendants to plead for mercy
and to say they are sorry or to argue extenuating circumstances. I
won't make a plea for mercy. I expect none nor will I get any.
Because I am not repentant. Because I am not guilty.

Clearly, this was a political trial and I a political prisoner.
Judge you did your best to deny this and attempt to criminalize me
and keep politics out. So did the prosecution.

This court was turned into an armed camp and this town was
virtually taken over by the state police through the months of
both trials. There were 4 fully armed police in the defendants
well.  There were numerous plainclothes police in the audience and
there were scores of uniformed police in the halls of this
building and out in the street. There were even snipers on the
roof, in full battle dress and in full view.

All this show of force had only one purpose and it had nothing to
do with security. It was to portray me as being a highly dangerous
person. It was meant to prejudice the jury, the press, the public
and scare the witnesses. This was a trial by force and fear, and
had nothing to do with justice. My single person could not justify
all these police. I went through 4 trials as a political prisoner
in various courts - 2 being here. And never had I made any overt
act or was violent nor was I a problem in the court. Yet every
time I scratched, numerous police in court reacted.

It was meant to scare the jury. Your refusal to recognize this is
a clear indication of your willingness to comply with my frame-
up. You claim to be an arbiter and not a participant but your
actions or inactions and decisions belie that. You drastically
limited my voir dire and you gave a flimsy reason, that there
hadn't been any recent publicity, and that the town forgot about
the last trial.

I've got to give you credit - you said it with a straight face.
You chose to ignore the fact that the court and city was an armed
camp through both trials. There's no way that this area could
forget that and this is the area the jury is drawn from. The
prospective jurors had to wade through all those cops just to get
in. you ignored booklets published and TV interviews over these
last five years propounding the state's view. At one time every
Republican voter in the state got a flier declaring Tom and I
guilty. If you had wanted a fair trial you would have granted me
an extensive voir dire and not cut it back. I believe you took
Judge Young's remark to heart. At the end of the Seditious
Conspiracy trial in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1989, after we
had won the case, he said that if he had to do it over he would
have cut the voir dire. Meaning that he did not like the verdict.
My hung jury last time was not to your liking so you ensured that
we couldn't weed out prejudiced jurors. They had to be biased and
it showed in the verdict.

You only granted most of our requests on procedure because they
were more than reasonable and denying them might have meant a
reversal later. The first trial you denied us money for experts
when we clearly needed it. You were forced to give us money this
time because of an appellate decision. But then you severely
limited the funds. The state's case was all circumstantial and
wholly relied on expert testimony. They spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars on experts alone, so our pittance was only a
drop in the bucket.

You allowed all my witnesses and supporters to be harassed and
wouldn't stop it when told about it. You said that you didn't see
it and couldn't act. You didn't see the shooting but you sure made
plenty of decisions around it. The civilian witnesses to the shoot
out obviously decided in their minds that I must have done it, and
I feel the show of force pushed them in that direction. They
blatantly tailored their testimony: their first reports said they
saw 2 or 3 people in the car. At the first trial they said 2 or 3
people. This time around they all got selective memories. They now
claim that they saw only 2 people and when reminded of their past
testimony they all didn't remember. They all conformed to the
state's assertions.

The verdict was crazy. It was based on no logic or fact. Tom said
he did the shooting. Yet even though I was never identified as the
shooter, I get convicted of it. There was more than enough
reasonable doubt not to convict. The state's case was all theory
and Tom refuted the state's contention convincingly. But obviously
the jury was biased against me. I think they took 4 days of
deliberation to try to justify in their own minds their prejudice.
They were obviously convinced I was guilty for reasons other than
fact.

You made a comment during the last trial - you said that you
thought Tom and I were hypocritical in demanding our rights when
we were dedicated to the overthrow of the government. As if the
two were contradictory. Yes, the government is corrupt and needs
overthrowing, but don't expect us to willingly put our heads on
the block for you to chop off without a fight. As guerrillas we
will endeavour to fight our best with whatever weapons come to
hand on whatever field or setting we find ourselves.

There is no justice in US courts for political prisoners or for
poor people or people of colour. We will fight on no matter.  When
denied justice we will insist on it even if we don't get it.  If
everyone got equal right and justice then there might be less need
for people like us. Revolutionaries are not created in a vacuum.
When a change is needed there will be those of us who will affect
that change. Whether the status quo likes it or not.

I am no terrorist.
I fight for true equality of the sexes and races.
I fight for the end of capitalism.
I fight for the end of US imperialism.
I fight for a kind of social system which is fair for all.

I've never done serious physical harm to anyone in my life.
I've never shot anyone. And I repeat - I am not guilty and I did
not shoot Trooper Lamonaco.

All efforts to break my spirit with isolation in prison, with
isolation from my family and friends, and with numerous trials,
have failed. Labelling me a terrorist and falsely convicting me of
murder will not weaken my resolve.

I close with apt words by William Henley:


INVICTUS - UNCONQUERED

Out of the spirit which covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever Gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
my head is bloody but unbowed.

It matters not how strait the gait
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.


Richard Williams                               February 6/92


Both Richard and Tom Manning have recently been moved from
Trenton; Tom to USP Marion and Richard to Lompoc. Write to them:
Richard Williams #10377-016, Lompoc Federal Penitentiary, 3901
Klein Blvd., Lompoc CA, 93438 USA, Tom Manning #10373-016, USP
Marion, P.O. Box 1000, Marion IL, 62959 USA.

                               -30-

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