Eric King Takes the Stand; Report from Third Day of Trial

Report on the third 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.

Defense attorneys Sarah Alvarez and Sandra Freeman went to visit Mr. King last night only to find him in an alternate location from where the government said he would be. This cut into attorney/client visitation time in a furtherance of the B.O.P. and the FCI Warden’s frustrating and suspicious actions against Eric. On who’s actual directive this harassment has been taken is hard to say. Mr. King’s defense team has still not received an inventoried list of Mr. King’s possessions nor documents making it impossible to see how, if any, of the items taken had been mishandled. The government has still not been able to articulate any type of security threat either from or against Mr. King to justify his movements to an empty range in the SHU facility for the remainder of the trial.

Prosecution called Nurse Practitioner Farboni in the first half of proceedings today. Farboni is the RN that gave Mr. King his ‘medical assessment’ after experiencing the unprovoked attack by Lt. Wilcox. Farboni was skillfully crossed by defense team member Sandra Freeman. Through sharp and steady questioning, they were able to show the shockingly inept and incomplete assessment performed  by Nurse Farboni. Over three minutes of audio/video evidence was shown to the jury explicitly showing Mr. King complaining of a pain level  of 7/10 on his temple as well as other points of pain around his face and wrists. Nurse Farboni did not address a single one of Mr. Kings complaints nor did she question any of his injuries. Her 3 minute assessment came off as willfully negligent at best.

In a very long awaited and anticipated moment, Mr. King finally took the stand on his own behalf with lead attorney Lauren Regan conducting the direct examination. Ms. Regan opened the line of questioning by asking Mr. King about his history as a boxer when he was a young man. Eric spoke well of the discipline and self-respect this training brought to his youth. It also explained why Mr. King was able to so skillfully defend himself against Lt. Wilcox’s attack. During Mr. Kings testimony the jury was leaning forward and paying close attention to Eric’s words, his language offered a welcome respite from the parade of “I don’t recall” parroted by all the BOP employees who have taken the stand to this point. Mr. King spoke about the hardship of staying positive on the inside, “Being in prison sucks, it’s not like normal life, It’s dark. It’s built around violence.” Eric then spoke about all the ways he has made an effort to do good time, teaching yoga and spending time in the law library and chapel. Mr. King lit up when he spoke about getting out, becoming a welder and reuniting with his beloved family.

The questioning from Ms. Regan then turned to the day this case is centered around: August 17, 2018. Mr. King described how after a lockdown that resulted from a separate physical interaction between a prisoner and a prison guard, he had reached out to his wife and shared with her the news of the altercation. Ms. Regan asked Mr. King about the purpose behind the email written to his wife, the same email that inflamed Lt. Wilcox and led to the unprovoked attack. Mr. King calmly described that his wife was recovering from surgery and the purpose of this email was to stay connected, brighten her day, and make her laugh. Ms. Regan asked Eric, “Are you aware your emails are monitored?” Eric answered with an unequivocal yes.

After writing the above-described email to his wife, Mr. King was summoned to the Lt.’s Office for what remained an unknown reason at this moment. After arriving, Mr. King described in perfect uncoached detail how the attack on him unfolded in the storage closet attached to the Lt.’s office hallway. In testimony that disputed the mish-mash of different scenarios offered by the string of prison guards offered up in this case, Eric explained how he was led into the storage closet and left alone by Lt. Kammrad on Lt. Wilcox’s demand. Once alone, Lt. Wilcox began to berate Mr. King before eventually losing his cool and attacking Mr. King unprovoked. Lt. Wilcox exclaimed “You’re a bitch, You’re a punk,” before shoving Mr. King and striking him twice. Mr. King then calmly explained how he skillfully defended himself with 3 quick punches before putting his hands on top of his head and becoming passive as other guards rushed in. The clarity of his testimony was very believable and had the jury listening intently.

Please join us tomorrow for court for the last day of the trial. Court will commence with the continuation of Eric King’s cross examination. The public access telephone number is: 877-336-1828 and access code 9449909#

Read details about the trial and the trial decorum order 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.