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Wisconsin Solidarity Singer Wins Appeal

An appeals court in Wisconsin overturned a decision by a lower court judge that denied Anica C.C. Bausch, arrested during the draconian Capitol Police abuse of the Solidarity Singers, the use of pre-trial discovery to fight the citation she received.

Anica C.C. Bausch was cited in October for demonstrating without a permit, which carries a maximum $500 fine. She pleaded not guilty and demanded a trial. But when she sought information during what's called pretrial discovery, the judge agreed with the prosecutor that the process didn't apply in a non-criminal forfeiture proceeding.

The Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed the lower court judge's ruling.

Every one of the state arguments against discovery were dismissed.
Again the court disagreed, noting that discovery simply facilitates "the ascertainment of truth" whether obtained for summary judgment claim or a trial defense.

The state argued that the legal process for a citation needs to be brief. The person cited should plead guilty or not and the case should rapidly be adjudicated. Adding a discovery process, they argued, would expand the case. In other words, we issued a ticket and the person who got it should just pay up.

This ruling could open the way for others arrested to use the discovery process to fight the citations they were given.

Over 300 people were issued citations from July until October of this year as the State Capitol Police cracked down on the singing protesters. The Department of Administration, headed by a Scott Walker appointee, unilaterally issued new rules on the public use of state buildings which curtailed free speech and free assembly rights by insisting on permits being obtained if even a handful of people got together. The permits also required someone assume financial responsibility for any damage (real or imagined) or the costs the state incurred (including the costs of Capitol Police assigned to monitor the event).

Instead of simply issuing tickets, those selected were singled out, swarmed by several Capitol Police officers, handcuffed or zip tied and then physically removed to another location to be "processed". They remained restrained for an hour or more until they were issued their citation.

Here's an example of the arrests:

The Solidarity Singers refused to obtain permits citing Article 1, Section 4 of the Wisconsin State Constitution

WI state constitution: article 1 section 4: the right of the people to peaceably assemble, to consult for the common good, and to petition the government, or any department thereof, shall never be abridged."

Additionally, the Solidarity Singers don't have a leader to apply for a permit. They're just a group of ordinary people who get together during the lunch hour to sing protest songs, some with very cleverly written lyrics. They've been singing in the State Capitol for over 2 years, since the protests against Scott Walkers horrendous budget and union busting were rolled out for this Republican majorities to ram through our State Legislature.

As a continuing reminder of the protests that brought tens of thousands of people to the State Capitol, Republican, as expected, went well overboard to try to eliminate them.

The Bottom Line

I'm not a lawyer, but this seems like a BFD. I believe that discovery could be used to determine how and why people were singled out for the draconian measures used by Capitol Police to issue the citation and even why Capitol Police found it necessary to use those methods in order to simply issue tickets to protesters.

Who knows what could be uncovered during the discovery process. We might get some tantalizing information.

Solidarity.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/21/1264502/-Wisconsin-Solidarity-Singer-Wins-Appeal