Day 4 of the Alamance 5 Trial -- Jail and Jubilation

Friday, March 09, 2012 12:33 AM
Day 4 of the Alamance 5 Trial -- Jail and Jubilation

 

Jail and Jubilation

 

Day 4 in Alamance County Superior Court Thursday was a day of great emotional peaks and valleys. At 1:43 p.m. the jury sent a note to Judge Osmond Smith saying they had reached guilty verdicts for three defendants, but were deadlocked on the two other defendants. While this played out, Judge Smith also announced the sad news of the death of Judge Wayne Abernathy's wife. Abernathy, who was originally appointed to our trial, had had to recuse himself (after the trial was underway) because of his wife's hospitalization after a fall.

 

Smith asked everyone in the courtroom to observe a moment of silence for Judge Abernathy. Even though it was the death of a woman most of us had never met, because of the unusual depth of intimacy all of us had shared in that courtroom during those four days, we were all taken aback by the news; our sadness intertwined with one another and with Judge Abernathy and his family.

 

When Smith read the note from the jury, I knew immediately that this jury had paid careful attention to a television newscast video shown during our trial. In the video, Francisco Risso, Audrey Schwankl (dressed as Lady Liberty) and myself, are clearly shown blocking the door to the Alamance County Detention Center, while Debbie Biesack and Graymon Ward are sitting in our semi-circle, but clearly not blocking the door. Even though we acted as a community in this action, never wanting to be legally segregated, nine members of the jury concluded that Graymon and Debbie simply did not commit a crime, but Francisco, Audrey and I did. So our hopes that the jury would come back deadlocked for all five cases were dashed.

 

The three of us were permitted to give sentencing testimony. I spoke of the powerful role civil disobedience has played in U.S. history, from the Boston Tea Party to women's suffrage to the Civil Rights Movement. I also noted the act of Divine Civil Disobedience by Jesus (that sealed his fate) of the cleansing the temple of the moneychangers.

 

Francisco, who is now a student at Wake Forest University Divinity School, and who spent years working with Latino immigrants in Morganton, NC, told the court the Jim Crow era and the Holocaust were low points of man's inhumanity to man, and that our present maltreatment of Latino immigrants was also immoral. "They're the ones that have the least fault in their poverty," Francisco said, citing unfair trade practices as a major cause of poverty throughout Latin America.

 

 Audrey said her eyes were opened to injustice when people she knew and loved in her Chatham County community were being hurt and abused by anti-immigrant policies.

 "When you have relationships with real people ... one finds oneself compelled to take action," Audrey said. I saw her comment as a crystal clear example of why Jesus insisted that we be in relationship with each other -- especially with those society calls outcasts. It is out of this communal love that we all come to know God, and find purpose in our lives. "You can't do nothing," Audrey said. "You must do something. You have a moral imperative to do something." Thank you, Audrey, and Amen.

 

Our lawyer, Barry Nakell also spoke up, recounting his Witness for Peace trip to Mexico where he saw first-hand the suffering of the Mexican people. "United States policy really creates the immigration that we deplore," Barry told the court. "We met immigrants and heard their stories."

 

Judge Smith gave each of us identical sentences (despite the fact that my rap sheet is long, Francisco's is in the middle and Audrey had no priors). Unlike the verdicts, we were pleased to be treated equally at sentencing. Smith gave us 18 months unsupervised probation, 10-day suspended jail sentences, $200 fines, and more than $300 each in  court costs. We advised Smith that we could not in good conscience pay the fines and court costs so he said we would have to serve the 10 days in the Alamance County Detention Center. He gave us until April 9 (Easter Monday) to comply with his sentence or face jail. (We plan to have a "Going To Jail Party" as the date approaches.) It is clear to us that because Latino immigrants do not have the option to buy their way out of jail, we will stand in solidarity with them.

 

The highlight of the day for me was the fact that eight jurors stayed for the sentencing (many of them obviously sad to have convicted us) and joined the defendants, assistant district attorney Larry Brown, Barry Nakell, our supporters and the Graham police officers for warm conversation and kind exchanges at the end of the day. My guess is it is quite rare for jurors and the defendants they convicted, the police who arrested them and the attorneys for both sides to all gather post-trial to simply be friendly with each other. It was as if we were all drawn together just to be closer to each other after four emotional and exhausting days together.

 

Jail awaits the three of us, but for now, as I type late into the night, I feel a sense of jubilation that so many lives were enriched and challenged by the Lenten mysteries that God allowed to unfold. What a gift.

 

 Peace be with you all, and deep gratitude for your love, prayers and support, Patrick for the Alamance 5

 

Patrick O’Neill  pmtoneill at aol.com