Hearing Scheduled on the Release of Grand Jury Resister Carrie Feldman

From:    ewok@riseup.net
Date:    Mon, December 7, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2009
MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact: Grand Jury Resistance Project (Kris Hermes), 510-681-6361
Earth Warriors are OK! (EWOK!) hotline (Natalia Shulkin), 612-293-9657,
ewok@riseup.net

Hearing Scheduled on the Release of Grand Jury Resister Carrie Feldman
Expiration of statute of limitations brings doubts about the legality of
her detention

Davenport, IA — A hearing is scheduled on Tuesday, December 8, regarding
the detention of grand jury resister Carrie Feldman. Feldman has been
incarcerated for three weeks for refusing to testify before a grand jury
on moral grounds. She was found to be in civil contempt of court on
November 17th and could be held for the remainder of the grand jury,
another 10 months. National Lawyers' Guild attorney Bruce Nestor, filed a
motion arguing for her release last week, pointing out that the statute of
limitations for the incident believed to be the subject of the grand
jury's inquiry expired in November. Though the U.S. District Attorney's
office refuses to comment, the grand jury appears to be investigating a
2004 Animal Liberation Front raid on a University of Iowa research
facility.

“Carrie is being held even though her testimony would be of no value at
this point," said Thomas Addo of Earth Warriors are OK! "Her detention is
clearly punitive and, hence, illegal. We're hopeful that the judge will
see this for what it is--a politically-motivated attempt to interfere with
the life of a young activist and her community."

What: Hearing on release of grand jury resister Carrie Feldman
When: Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 11:00 a.m.
Where: U.S. District Court, 131 E. Fourth St., Davenport, Iowa

Last week,  District Court Judge John Jarvey ordered the release of Scott
DeMuth, recently indicted for conspiracy under the Animal Enterprise
Terrorism Act (AETA), pending his trial. DeMuth was originally subpoeaned
to appear before the same grand jury as Feldman, and also refused to
testify. As with Feldman, the court offered DeMuth immunity in exchange
for his testimony, calling into question the strength of the evidence used
to indict him days later. Further suggesting a political motivation for
the prosecutorial actions taken against both activists, Assistant District
Attorney Clifford Cronk cited DeMuth's political beliefs and associations
repeatedly as reason to deny his release.