LOCAL News :: Crime & Police
Hearing to Determine if Aaron Patterson Gets a New Trial: Friday, 2/10
At 10:30 AM, Friday, Feb. 10th there will be oral arguments to determine whether Aaron Patterson, community activist, police torture victim and former death row inmate, will get a new trial. The hearing will be in Judge Pallmeyer's courtroom, 219 S. Dearborn, Room 2119. Please show your solidarity.
Most of those who attended portions of Aaron's trial and pre-trial hearings saw multiple abuses of power by Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer as she steamrolled his trial to a guilty verdict. A few of the highlights:
1) Pallmeyer insisted on rushing the case to trial even though Aaron's original attorney, Demetrius Evans, said she couldn't possibly prepare his defense in the short time frame Pallmeyer demanded. On the government's side there were all the resources of a major branch of the federal attorney general's office, on Aaron’s side there was one attorney. The "evidence" produced by the prosecution included thousands of hours of secretly recorded audiotapes. One attorney, working 40 hours a week, would take 25 weeks to listen to just 1,000 hours of those tapes. Evans finally resigned in protest, saying that for her to continue as Aaron's counsel with such few resources at her disposal would have been tantamount to legal malpractice.
2) Ineffective counsel. Once Evans was replaced, Aaron tried repeatedly to fire his new lead counsel, Tommy Brewer, but Judge Pallmeyer wouldn't let him. Anyone who witnessed Brewer’s closing arguments, especially the very last sentence of it ("...and that’s why you should find Aaron Patterson guilty, I mean not guilty") would have to agree that Aaron was right on the money on this one. In a mental competancy hearing, Pallmeyer ruled that Aaron was competant, and yet she violated a fundamental right of the judicial system – the right to choose one's own counsel.
For more background on the case, please check out the links below.
Stand up for justice and please attend Aaron's hearing on Friday.