[GPSCC-chat] Congressional candidate Carol Brouillet arrested Palo Altan failed to attend court hearing after April civil disobedience arrest

[Carol Brouillet]

<http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=25624>http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=25624 



Congressional candidate Carol Brouillet arrested
Palo Altan failed to attend court hearing after April civil disobedience arrest

by <http://www.paloaltoonline.com/staff/mailto.php?e=sdremann>Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Weekly Staff

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Congressional candidate Carol Brouillet was arrested Saturday, June 
2, after failing to show up for a court appearance, which stemmed 
from a civil-disobedience action outside Lockheed Martin, according 
to Palo Alto police.

Brouillet, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 
the 14th District, was taken into custody outside her Palo Alto home 
on June 2 at about 8:47 p.m., she confirmed.

The Green Party candidate, who has run on a freedom-of-speech and 
corporate-accountability platform, said City of Sunnyvale police 
first arrested her and four other people on April 6. The group was 
arrested for blocking the street in front of defense-systems 
corporation Lockheed Martin, located at 1111 Lockheed Martin Way in 
Sunnyvale. They were protesting nuclear weapons production, she said.

Brouillet has taken part in civil disobedience since the 1990s, and 
has been arrested during passive protests numerous times in Berkeley 
and Livermore, including with anti-war activist Daniel Ellsberg, she 
said. But in most other instances, she and others were given 
citations and sent on their way.

"I have never been through what I went through before," she said of 
her experience in Santa Clara County's correctional facility. She 
hadn't intended to miss her court date, she said.

On the day of her Sunnyvale arrest, Brouillet said she had been 
precinct walking for her campaign when she learned that an old friend 
was taking part in the protest at Lockheed.

"I just couldn't resist doing civil disobedience," she said.

After their arrest, Brouillet and friends were given a May 18 
court-appearance date, but she sought to have the date changed. She 
was supposed to appear in court on May 30, but when she didn't show 
up the judge issued a bench warrant.

"I was so busy campaigning that I forgot and missed the court date," she said.

Brouillet said she went to the court after receiving the bench 
warrant, and a clerk gave her another date to appear on June 15. But 
when she came home on Saturday night, the police drove past her home. 
The officer made a U-turn and then arrested her, she said.

"We had the most delightful conversation on the way to jail," she 
said, adding the officer said she was the nicest person he had ever arrested.

"I think he might vote for me."

This was the first time Brouillet has sat in a cell at the Elmwood 
Correctional Facility in Milpitas, she said. The experience was also 
an eye opener.

"It was really awful," she said, adding that it took 14 hours to 
process her. She posted $10,000 bail. "I didn't realize that 
Sunnyvale was so harsh on exercising First Amendment rights," she said.

Her personal experience was an example of why she is running for 
office, she said of the importance of exercising free speech. She now 
has three court dates in Santa Clara County Superior Court in Palo Alto.

But there is a bright side.

"The nice thing about doing this in Palo Alto is I can bicycle 
there," she said.

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