B.O.P. Takes Eric’s Documents; Report from Day Two of Trial

Report on the second day of Eric King’s trial from the Civil Liberties Defense Center and originally posted by the Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) Federation. For ongoing updates, follow Unicorn Riot on social media.

Day two started with some highly disconcerting news. Yesterday, while Mr. King was in court, unbeknownst to him or his council, his cell was emptied of all his belongings, including a bevy of attorney/client privileged documents. The obvious concern here is that the B.O.P. had taken control of sensitive documents without any oversight, and if they chose to do so, there is no telling who previewed and potentially copied these documents. This potentially corrupt action could easily tip the hand of defense strategy in this important case.

Based on the fact that this case is primarily about B.O.P lies, the idea that B.O.P officials had custody of Mr. Kings privileged documents all day and did not violate the defense’s privacy is a difficult pill to swallow. Mr. King was then notified he would be moved in the middle of his trial from FCI Englewood to FDC Englewood, an entirely different prison with different guards and procedures. This move could easily be perceived as punitive or retaliatory as a disruption at such a critical time could easily upset any individual who is incarcerated and accustomed to their routine as well as staff attached to their current housing.

The attorneys for the government, the Marshals, and all other officers of the court claimed to have no prior knowledge of this action taken by the Bureau of Prisons. The government claimed Mr. Kings property was only taken for 15 minutes where Mr. King shared that it had been missing for 2.5 hours. (This made it impossible for him to prepare adequately for today’s hearing. His documents and belongings were actually taken in the morning and held ALL DAY). Despite the fact the Judge explicitly said Mr. King had done nothing to deserve this transfer, he then allowed Mr. King to be moved this evening to FDC Englewood based on the belief that it would be a similar level of surveillance and conditions. Several years ago, Judge Martinez had explicitly ordered Mr. King to not be subjected to further diesel therapy by the B.O.P. This entire event was understandably upsetting for Mr. King.

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Ms. Regan – Mr. King’s lead defense attorney asked for an evidentiary hearing to bring all B.O.P. officials to testify under oath that Mr. Kings documents were not viewed, shared, or copied. She also asked for photographic evidence of Mr. Kings new conditions of confinement. She was denied on both requests.

The two main government witnesses today used conveniently fuzzy recollections to cover up the obvious inconsistency in their testimony. Ms. Regan cross examined Lt. Wilcox while Ms. Alvarez handled Lt. Kammrad. Some of the inconsistencies included where Lt. Kammrad was located when Mr. King was brought into the storage closet before the assault occurred, who did the medical photography of Wilcox’s hands, timeline inconsistencies etc. It has become clear that the government’s case will largely try to obscure the truth through heavy coaching as well as an incredible loss of memory when examined by the defense attorneys. Tomorrow, we expect to be another long day of testimony for both sides though Judge Martinez has consistently tried to keep this trial on track for the scheduled timeline and 5 day trial.

Please join us tomorrow for court. The public access telephone number is: 877-336-1828 and enter access code 9449909# Read details about the trial at https://cldc.org/king-trial-decorum

The Civil Liberties Defense Center is representing Eric pro-bono & there are significant costs associated with bringing a case to trial. Please donate at https://cldc.org/donate/ and put ‘For Eric King Legal Defense’ in the notes.

Watch https://twitter.com/UnicornRiotLive for live tweets covering the trial.