On Tuesday, the RNC 8 and a courtroom full of supporters sat through a hearing regarding several motions that had been filed in the previous months. While the proceedings were less than riveting, there were some surprising results. Even our old friend Bob Fletcher couldn’t resist showing up briefly to watch today’s hearing. Biggest news of the day? The trial date is set for October 25, 2010, so mark your calendars now.

Dear friends, families and supporters,

The last time that we wrote, we were only weeks beyond the 2008 RNC, and still figuring out how to navigate our case with a sense of collectivity and integrity. Now, more than a year after the fact, we find ourselves in a sort of limbo. Day to day, we don’t feel the intensity of repression that we did in the weeks surrounding the RNC, yet the trial looms somewhere in the distance and we’re not really free to move on. We return to court on February 2nd, and may come out of the hearing with a trial date certain. While it’s hard to remain upbeat about the prospect, we hope to make the final push towards trial energizing for ourselves and our supporters alike, and we feel certain that a strong show of court solidarity will make a huge difference in the outcome of our case.

The RNC 8 learned this week that Judge Teresa Warner has set the next court date for the eight: Tuesday, February 2 at 9am in room 131-B (that’s the big one) of Ramsey County Courthouse, 15 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul.

Katyanne Marie Kibby, 25, was acquitted by a federal jury in Austin, Texas, said public defender Jose Gonzalez-Failla. She had been charged with retaliating against Brandon Darby, the community activist-turned-informant who helped federal prosecutors win convictions against two Texas men who planned to firebomb the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last year.

Thanks to everyone who attended the rally and court solidarity for the RNC 8 on October 8! Enough supporters showed up that the court staff agreed to switch to a larger courtroom. Not only that, but even in the larger room, we took up enough space that the customary sad-looking undercover investigators needed to stand the entire time.

Regarding The State of Minnesota v. Christina Vana & Karen Meissner

Today, the chains were not lifted from our friends lives’, but perhaps the weight of their bonds are more defined, more certain. Today, Tuesday, September 1st, 2009, Christina Vana and Karen Meissner pled guilty to felony assault in the 2nd degree, for their part in the massive demontrations during the 2008 RNC in St. Paul, Minnesota. They received a plea deal, with the State agreeing to grant them a Stay of Imposition (meaning the felony charge will be dropped to a misdemeanor after succesful completion of probation), a maximimum of 90 days jail time, and the possibility of doing Sentence to Serve as a jail alternative. They face up to 7 years probation. This was a depatarture from the sentencing guidelines, which would normally call for prison time. Their Sentencing is on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009, at 1:30 p.m in front of Judge Warner at the Ramsey County Courthouse. Please show up and make court a slighty more festive endeavor!

We are asking people across the country to take a few minutes on Tuesday, September 1 - the one-year anniversary of the RNC resistance - to contact Ramsey County Attorney (and aspiring Democratic candidate for Governor) Susan Gaertner and tell her to DROP THE CHARGES!

Chicago: Susan Gaertner, the Prosecutor of the RNC-8,  will be here, in Chicago, to receive an award at the, American Bar Association, ABA Criminal Justice Section Meetings, Award Ceremony, Friday evening, July 31 2009.

Recently, the City of St. Paul filed new charges against four individuals arising from incidents that occurred during the 2008 Republican National Convention. Nearly a year has passed since the RNC, so this begs the question: why has the City of St. Paul suddenly decided to file these?

Elliot Hughes, who survived a brutal beating and torture during the RNC convention protests last year, now faces extreme charges.

Elliot Erickson Hughes, 20, is charged with two counts of fourth-degree assault and one count of obstructing the legal process with force, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court. Each gross misdemeanor charge carries a penalty of up to one year in jail, up to a $3,000 fine or both.

Nine months after the Republican National Convention, three protesters face new criminal charges.

Ramsey County prosecutors allege some suspects threw items at police and supplied rioters with slingshots, wrist rockets and other items used as ammunition against officers. Charges include aiding and abetting a riot, obstructing the legal process and possession of a weapon.

The Civil Litigation crew of CRASS has been patiently working to create a legal support framework for our community to fight against the police abuses and terrorizing of dissent that we experienced during last year’s Republican National Convention. We are ready to assist lawyers in going on the offensive against the system that had us jailed, attacked, prosecuted, and gassed. Civil litigation is a slow process but the lawyers are moving towards filing the first suit against the mass arrests of last year. The framework has now been created and your participation as witnesses, volunteers, or plaintiffs is crucial.

Monday morning in Ramsey County District Court, RNC activist Dave Mahoney pled – under pressure and significant duress – to a single count of second degree assault, a felony. Instead of going to trial on the 10 felony counts stemming from a single invented incident, Dave and the office of Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner agreed to a plea bargain. Given the disproportionately ferocious, political prosecution, Dave and his attorney evidently found it in their best interest to agree to a 90-day cap on jail time, reduction of the (single) felony charge to a gross misdemeanor after the sentence is served, and the ability for Dave to return to his native England after the jail term. With credit for good behavior and time served, Dave is looking at 56 days or less in jail, as opposed to the decades possible if he had lost at trial.

Wearing a dress shirt and tie, Glenn David Dyer winked to his supporters as two Ramsey County sheriff's deputies led him directly to a jail holding cell after the sentencing.

Apparently the man who made a name from himself as anarchist turned snitch will be featured on This American Life this weekend (5/23 - 5/24).

At long last, we’ve completed our 35,000-word full report on last summer’s anarchist mobilizations against the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, complete with chronological maps and painstaking documentation. Updated from the feature in Rolling Thunder #7 and expanded to include the complete text of thirteen different participant narratives, this report offers a comprehensive history of the preparations for, events of, and aftermath following the protests, and an analysis of their context and implications.

Unlike virtually every other analysis yet published from the radical community, this one utilizes subsequent internal government reports, comparing them against a wide variety of other sources. We hope our investigation and the accompanying archive of personal testimonies will prove useful both to participants still trying to understand the events of this past summer and to organizers looking to derive lessons from them for the future.

Coldsnap Legal Collective is an autonomous legal collective based in the Twin Cities whose purpose is to work in solidarity with other groups or individuals in order to EDUCATE, EMPOWER, and SUPPORT the radical community by sharing knowledge, raising awareness, and developing a network of legal support and solidarity. We've got your back!

The 2008 RNC is a fading past for most of the country, and much of import has happened on this continent since last Fall. Just as there are many folks beginning their fight against the State for the tumult in Oakland last January, there are a number of friends still caught up in the web of Oppression in Minnesota. The RNC 8 have had their Terrorism enhancements dropped but are left with potential jail time for their conspiracy charges ( http://rnc8.org ), Dave Mahoney is approaching trial and faces over 20 years in prison for six bogus felony charges (terroristic threats for pointing a finger?!), and Santa Cruz citizen Jesse Forrey is still stuck living in Minneapolis awaiting trial. Some of the people who are dealing with the aftermath of the RNC are not as widely known as the RNC 8, but are still having their lives torn apart. This is just a reminder that folks in the Twin Cities and all over are still dealing with the aftermath of the RNC, and an offering of sentiments from a local Californian transplant who is fighting to go home.

In the surest sign yet of the power of post-RNC court solidarity, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner has dropped two of four unfounded charges against the RNC 8. Caving to months and months of public pressure, Gaertner dropped one count of Conspiracy to Commit Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism, and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Damage to Property in Furtherance of Terrorism.

“We are heartened by the fact that our supporters have won this concession,” said defendant Nathanael Secor. “It’s taken a tremendous show of strength and solidarity over the past seven months.”

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office is preparing to drop terrorism charges against the so-called RNC Eight, according to a source close to discussions about the high-profile prosecutions. The group of activists, who have been accused of a criminal conspiracy to disrupt the Republican National Convention, will still face felony charges of criminal conspiracy to riot and damage property.