On Wed., April 23 all charges were dropped against Denver activist Larry
Hales. Hales had been assaulted by ten Denver cops this past Nov. 30. The cops
had busted into Larry's home without permission at 10:30 p.m., handcuffed
his partner to a chair, ripped out some of Hales’ hair, ripped his
clothes, and charged him with interfering with the police.
Hales, a leading activist against police brutality and war, is also
organizing for protests at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this
August, and is well known to the Denver police. Hales had been providing
housing for a parolee who had been a police brutality victim. A parole visit
had been the pretext of the cops’ raid on Hales' home, but the
parolee was not at home at the time and the cops did not have permission to
enter or search the home when the parolee was not present.
A widespread support campaign grew up around the case, demanding that all
charges be dropped against Hales. The National Justice for Larry Hales campaign
launched an online petition which generated over 160,000 email messages to the
members of the Denver legislature, the mayor, city attorney and the judge in
the case, the Colorado congressional delegation, congressional leaders,
President Bush, Attorney General Mukasey, and members of the media. Letters
were faxed from public officials such as Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner,
from unions like USW 8751 Boston School Bus Union and many rank and file union
leaders, religious leaders like Bishop Filipe Teixeira OFSJC, lawyers and other
public figures.
Larry Hales’ message to supporters:
‘Mass campaign made the difference’
Larry Hales wrote the following statement on this victory:
The city attorney's office decided to drop the charges
against me because of the attack and the violation of mine and Melissa
Kleinman’s fourth amendment rights. But, if there was no campaign
and the case not made public, I believe they would have gone forward, wasting
time, resources and possibly sending me to jail for an extended period of time,
up to a year.
I do not believe in luck or chance, but Melissa and myself did escape
great bodily injury or death, and so our case was never as bad as many
others. What happened to us is more indicative of what many people who
try and house parolees and the parolees themselves face. Their homes
are ransacked and the parolees are goaded into a response and if they respond
are violated and sent back to prison.
However, in our case there were a great many cops and parole officers and
to some it may seem surreal, but what happened on Nov. 30th, is just more of
the same, of the state using its forces to harass and intimidate. They
were held off and defeated by a mass campaign of support and this is what made
the difference.
Melissa and I would like to thank the International Action Center, Troops
Out Now, the Recreate ‘68 Alliance, USW 8751, Bishop Teixeira, City
Council Person Chuck Turner, the Partisan Defense Committee, the Pan-African
Newswire and all organizations and individuals that came to our
assistance.
In struggle and solidarity,
Larry Hales
