Closing Arguments in Coronado Free Speech Trial on Monday

From: Support for Rod Coronado <info@supportrod.org>

For immediate release – September 17, 2007

Contact: Karen Pickett on-site cell: 510-316-2722; message phone 510-548-3113

Case expected to go to jury by Monday afternoon

San Diego, CA- Attorney Tony Serra for the defense and the government’s attorney will
present closing arguments in activist Rod Coronado’s First Amendment trial at 9 a.m.
Monday morning in room 16, 5th floor of the Federal District Court, 940 Front St.,
San Diego, California. Preceding closing statements, the judge will issue jury
instructions. The case will then be in the hands of the jury.

On Thursday Sept. 13, testimony of a San Diego police officer present at the
speech at issue, was impeached, as a key piece of new evidence was introduced.
After undercover San Diego counter-intelligence cop Joseph Lehr insisted that
Coronado responded to a question about making a “bomb for an action,” a
recently-surfaced audio recording clearly established that the
question from the audience on August 1, 2003 did not include the words “bomb”
or “for an action.” The exact wording of the question following the environmental
speech is central to the case, since government charges are based on Coronado’s
answer.

The government is prosecuting Coronado under an obscure statute (18 USC § 842
(p)(2)(A)), which makes it a crime to demonstrate how to build a destructive
device with the intent that it be used in furtherance of a crime of violence.
They say he intended to foment criminal activity based on his answer, and that
his speech is not protected by the First Amendment. In order to deny that
protection, however, the government must prove his intent.

The Supreme Court has carved out three famous exceptions to free speech: the
“fighting words” exception (Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire), the obscenity
exception (Miller v. California), and the “clear and present danger” exception
(Brandenburg v. Ohio). However, each exception is extremely limited. The
Brandenburg decision states the incitement to violence must be
imminent—unlike, one assumes, the public call for assassination of Venezuelan
president Hugo Chavez by Christian fundamentalist and broadcaster Pat Robertson
in 2005.

After the audio recording played for the jury with a transcript on screen on
Thursday, the defense called as a witness Cari Shaw, the young woman who
actually posed the question. She corroborated the words on the recording as a
question about how an incendiary device is made, and testified that her
impression was that Rod’s explanation of incendiary devices was a recital of
his and others’ acts of the past, rather than a specific call to action. Two
subsequent witnesses, also present at the 2003 speech, both testified to an
absence of incitement to immediate action by Coronado’s words.

The jury seated in this case includes seven women and five men, with two
alternates, one Hispanic male and one Caucasian female. The jury includes one
African-American, one Hispanic, one Filipino; the remaining jurors
assumed to be Caucasian.

A press conference will be held in front of the courthouse after the
verdict is delivered. Press packets with background information are available
electronically and at the courthouse through Karen Pickett.

More info at http://supportrod.org