[GPSCC-chat] Case of Green Party Member Rev. Edward Pinkney in Benton Harbor MI

[perrysandy at aol.com]

Hi Everyone,
 
The June meeting of the GPSCC voted to send a letter of support to Rev. Edward Pinkney who is facing five felony charges for his role in a recall petition campaign against the Mayor.
 
Below is information about the case that I collected for the Green Shadow Cabinet.
 
 
Sandy Perry


 
http://greenshadowcabinet.us/statements/facing-25-years-prison-circulating-petition

 
 
Facing 25 Years in Prison for Circulating a Petition 
June26, 2014
SandyPerry, Secretary of Housing
Green Party member and 2008 Congressional candidateRev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan is once again battlingpolitical persecution. On July 21, he will stand trial forcirculating recall petitions against Benton Harbor’s pro-corporate MayorJames Hightower.
The state is charging him with five felonycounts and threatening him with up to twenty-five years inprison. Benton Harbor has 70% unemployment and 90% of its people living
below the poverty line, and is also home to one of the richest companiesin the world, the $19 billion Whirlpool Corporation.
Rev. Pinkney has led residents in arelentless battle against racism in the criminal justice system, for jobs,for education, for a better life, and against the state-appointed“Emergency Financial Manager” (EFM) that took over Benton Harbor in 2011.EFMs are a threat to democracy everywhere, as proven when an EFM declaredthe bankruptcy of Detroit in 2013. A federal judge subsequently ruled that itsworkers had no right to keep their pensions despite explicit protection inthe Michigan State Constitution, a decision that impacts the fateof workers as far away as California.
The specific charges against Rev. Pinkneyin the recall of Mayor Hightower are that he altered some of the dates onthe petitions. However, the evidence against him introduced at hispreliminary hearing was flimsy and contradictory, as pointed out in a June3 article in Voice of Detroit:
· Another BentonHarbor resident turned in the recall petitions on January 8, not Rev.Pinkney.
· Rev. Pinkney was formally charged and awarrant issued for his arrest on that same day, January 8, but thepetitions were not turned over to the Michigan State Police Forensics Labfor examination until February 26.
· In March, Berrien County Sheriff Deputiesconducted a massive campaign to interrogate and intimidate petitionsigners throughout Benton Harbor.
· Sgt. James Goff, who examined thepetitions, is not a certified Forensics Document Examiner.
· Sgt. Goff testified that, “I can’t saywho altered them or when.”
· No original petitions were admitted intoevidence, only copies, and the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department,Elections Commission, and Michigan State Police disagree on where theoriginals are located.
· Three witnesses who had circulated petitionstestified that they saw petition signers themselves change the dates ontheir signatures due to errors, and one circulator testified that shechanged a date she herself entered due to an error.
· County Sheriff Sgt. David Zizkovskystated that he himself asked the Forensics Lab to change five dates on thepetitions.
· There was no confession, no certifiedhandwriting expert testimony, no eye witnesses, no evidence that Rev.Pinkney had exclusive access to the petitions, and lots of evidence thatlots of other people had access to them. 
The charges against Rev. Pinkney are anattack on our right to petition for redress of grievances and our right totake political action independently of the corporate agenda and thetwo-party system. The fight to defend Rev. Pinkney is the fight fordemocracy and for the future of America.
~ SandyPerry servesas Secretary of Housing on the General Welfare Branch of the Green ShadowCabinet.
Prior article on Rev. Pinkney: Democracy Campaigner, Rev. Pinkney,Arrested
Publicize this case. Write letters ofsupport for Rev. Pinkney to BANCO (Black Autonomous Network of CommunityOrganizations) at banco9342 at sbcglobal.net Donations for legal defense may besent to BANCO, 1940 Union Street, Benton Harbor, MI 49022.
©2014 Green Shadow Cabinet The Green ShadowCabinet of the United States is a civic project not sponsored by or affiliatedwith any political party.
 


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