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News :: Civil & Human Rights |
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ACLU Statement on Martel Miller Eavesdropping Charges |
Current rating: 0 |
by Paul Riismandel
Email: paul (nospam) mediageek.org (unverified!)
Address: P.O. Box 2102, Champaign, IL 61825-2102 |
10 Sep 2004
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This afternoon there was a press conference held at the Champaign Public LIbrary featuring statements from the Iliinois and Champaign Urbana branches of the American Civil Liberties Union and other community orgnizations on the recent charges of criminal eavesdropping made against two Champaign men, including Martel Miller. Miller was charged as a result of videotaping police conduct on public streets as part of a citizen watch effort of the organization he co-founded, Visionaries for Educating Youth and Adults (VEYA).
The statement of the Illinois ACLU is below.
Video footage recorded by VEYA is available at their website (http://www.veya.org/) and will be shown Saturday September 11th in the auditorium of the Champaign Public Library and again at 1pm on Sunday, September 12th at Boardman's Art Theatre in downtown Champaign.
Audio from the press conference, along with an interview with VEYA member Nicole Lamers, will air on WEFT 90.1's mediageek at 5:30 PM on Friday, Sept. 10. The program will be archived on-line at: http://www.mediageek.org/radioshow |
ACLU of Illinois
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF ILLINOIS 180 N. MICHIGAN # 2300 CHICAGO, IL 60601-1287
TEL: (312) 201-9740 FAX: (312) 201-9760 www.aclu-il.org
PRESS CONTACT: Adam Schwartz 312/201-9740-2316
Statement of September 10, 2004,
Regarding the Prosecution of Martel Miller
The ACLU of Illinois, along with its more than 15,000 members from every corner of the state, supports the right of an individual or organization to videotape government activity in a public place, including police detentions of civilians.
The First Amendment protects the public's right to seek redress for grievances from the government. This includes the right to collect information regarding the government's actions. The First Amendment also protects the freedom of the press to report on government actions, and the public's right to receive this news. These rights promote government accountability, one of our core national values.
These rights are especially important when it comes to law enforcement. One reasonable step to ensure police accountability is for civilians to monitor the behavior of police officers in the streets and sidewalks of their communities. Videotape is simply an effective monitoring technique, creating an object record of interactions between police and civilians. The videotape of the Rodney King beating is one example of the appropriate use of videotape to document law enforcement activity. A person standing in the public way ordinarily can have no reasonable expectation that their words or actions will remain private. This is especially true for government officials carrying out their public duties, Finally, videotaping ordinarily will not interfere with police officers in performing their duties.
Accordingly, the ACLU of Illinois calls upon the Champaign County State's Attorney to drop its prosecution of Marten Miller.
Thank you. |
See also:
http://www.veya.org/
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Website Now Available on John Piland's Handling of Brady Smith Case
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This work is in the public domain. |
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Watch the video on the veya website |
by 5
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
10 Sep 2004
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I recommend the xtreme, fireworks, and legal files.
But all are interesting---if fuzzy.
In the ccfair video, some kids are walking by on the sidewalk while he's taping. One kid says "Are you a cop?" And another responds "Does he *look* like a cop?" Seems like *lots* of kids in the tape thought he might be with the police. But later in the same video about 20 seconds to the end, a kid yells to the police to prevent the taping. The cop yells back that he has a *right* to tape. The people being taped are in a public space.
The most damning video---legal. The cop knows what's what. If you enforce the eavesdropping statute against Martell and Thompson, you would have to enforce it with the guy filming his kid's tee-ball game, the man videotaping a wedding in a park, the mom videotaping her son riding his bike for the first time on the sidewalk, the college student taping a tailgate party, the cop taping the traffic stop, and the journalist filming a news event, and so on and so on.
Looks like Piland should have actually watched the tapes before diving into this stupid endeavor of charging these two with eavesdropping.
Maybe new law can be made with this case. |
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Just As Good or Better |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
10 Sep 2004
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And maybe Champiagn County will make a new State's Attorney who will view their office as something other than their personal political/re-election machine.
If Piland was smart, he would drop these ridiculous charges and cut his losses... like I said, IF he was smart.
Given we can't trust the State's Attorney to investigate real crimes because he's too busy making up fake ones that he hopes will score him points with the LawnOrder Crowd, there is another crime that needs an independent prosecutor assigned to investigate in connection with this case. That is the warrantless seizure by the Urbana Police Dept. of the tape from UPTV. This is a rather obvious breech of the law that may lead right to the State's Attorney's office, who no doubt hoped that his hubris would not be exposed to thousands of citizens by making a preemptive strike on the press by seizing the tape. Everyone involved in the seizure who abused their authority in this very, VERY unAmerican action should lose their jobs and face criminal charges. Period. |
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Re: ACLU Statement on Martel Miller Eavesdropping Charges |
by thorn
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Sep 2004
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Let's keep the magnifying lense focused on these slimy "public servants". Man I love to watch these liers and thieves topple. Let's rock their comfy world!
Nice work UCIMC! |
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Re: ACLU Statement on Martel Miller Eavesdropping Charges |
by chris
caevans2 (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
15 Sep 2004
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There will be a meeting at the Douglass Branch of the Champaign Library on 5th and Grove St. in Champaign on Thursday, September 16, 2004 at 6:00p.m. to organize a Citizen's Review Board of the police and continue exploring ways to achieve better law enforcement. |
