Chuck Turner Court Hearing 3/17 @ 2:30pm

Chuck Turner Court Appearance @ John Joseph Moakley US Courthouse  (3/17–2:30pm-SHARP)

Chuck Turner Statement 12/15/09

December 15, 2009

Dear Supporters,

In the holiday spirit, I decided to Not put out the call for my
supporters to come to the Moakley Court House for this afternoon’s
hearing. The focus of today’s hearing was scheduling so it seemed that
it wasn’t necessary to bring people to the court.

Judge Woodlock who will be the trial judge presided over the hearing.
He moved the tentative date to begin trial from April to June 21st. He
made that decision because of a case before the Supreme Court
regarding the constitutionality of the payment for public services law
that is used in the Wilkerson case. While he set the trial date for
June 21st, the trial might actually begin on a later date depending on
the timing of the Supreme Court’s decision.

Judge Woodlock also set January 22nd as the date by which we will have
to file all of our motions. Asst U.S. Attorney McNeil will have to
file his response to our motions and Senator Wilkerson’s motion by
February 19th.  On March 17th, Judge Woodlock will hear the
presentation on the motions.  So finally we are off and running.

Happy holidays,

Chuck

PS  I can’t talk about the specifics of the “evidence” now that we
have accepted it. However, my view after seeing the evidence is the
same as it was before. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE. Since I did not commit
the crimes they allege, I should not be surprised at the lack of
evidence. However, my lawyers and I thought they might fake some
information in order to build a case.  The fact that they didn’t
fortify their case with “faked evidence” supports, I believe, the
theory that they assumed that they could push me off the Council
without going to trial.

Chuck Turner Statement 11/4/09

Councilor Turner released the following message to his supporters:

November 4, 2009

Dear Supporters,

I am thrilled to have won such a landslide victory in yesterday’s
District 7 City Council race. I view this victory not only as a
mandate to continue my leadership as Councilor but also to continue my
fight to prove that former US Attorney Sullivan tried to publicly
humiliate and jail me despite his knowledge that I am innocent.

Now that my continuation as the District 7 Councilor is assured, I
will focus my attention on disposing of the government’s bogus case.
As long as the question of my guilt or innocence is unresolved, I will
not be able to serve as a Chair of any Council Committee based on a
ruling by the Council President. Thus to eliminate this impediment to
my service I have directed my lead lawyer, Barry P Wilson, to prepare
a motion to dismiss the charges.

I have also instructed him to take whatever steps necessary to secure
the “so called evidence” that the government claims to have. I
continue to believe that the government’s demand that I give up my
freedom of speech in order to receive “their evidence” is an
outrageous denial of justice. However, my lawyers advise me that their
ability to see the “evidence” strengthens their ability to prove
former US Attorney Sullivan joined the historic pattern of government
persecution of black elected officials by basing his case on his
political desires not on the pursuit of justice.

Since receipt of the “evidence” will limit my ability to discuss the
particulars of the case, I will focus my discussion in the court of
public opinion on US Attorney Sullivan –his history, his objectives,
and his relationship to the press. It is amazing that the Boston media
has focused so little attention on former US Attorney John Ashcroft’s
bankrolling Sullivan’s future despite the profile of Sullivan as a
weak, somewhat inept US Atty.

In closing, let me thank all of you who supported me during the
darkest moment of my life. Without your support, I would not have
survived the early assaults and certainly would not have had the
strength and courage to persevere despite the odds and the attacks. I
am truly indebted to you all. Let me end by publicly thanking Terri,
my wife, for her love and faith which has served as a shield against
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Sincerely,
chuck

Chuck Turner Statement

Dear Supporters,

This Thursday, July 2nd,  at noon in Courtroom 1 in the Moakley
Courthouse Judge Woodlock has agreed to hear my lawyers’ challenge to
court approved gag order and attempt by the US Attorney’s office to
strip me of my first amendment rights. Let me briefly review the
background of this hearing:

a) In December 2008, Asst U.S. Attorney McNeil told my lawyers that if
I would sign a gag order stating that I would not talk publicly about
the discovery information (evidence of my guilt), they would give me
more information than I would get if I wouldn’t sign. They also said
that I would get the information more quickly than I would if I
refused to sign the gag order.

As you can imagine, I said No.  Why should I have to sign  a gag order
in order to get the “alleged evidence”. I felt I had a right to the
evidence and it would be ridiculous for me to give up my first
amendment rights in order to get it.  It was hard for me to imagine
that after they had spread the “alleged pictures of my guilt” around
the world before I was even arraigned, they would have the nerve to
ask me to cooperate with them by silencing myself. However, as I am
learning Asst US Attorney McNeil has no shame.

When I wouldn’t sign, McNeil went to court on January 5, 2009 and
asked the court to require that I sign the gag order in order to
receive the discovery. While the Judge approved the request on March
16th, I continued to refuse to sign. While my lawyers continually
stress that I am making it more difficult for them if I don’t enable
them to see the evidence before the trial starts, my position is:

1) That to cooperate with them by giving up my right of free speech
would betray my people’s 400 year struggle to have rights that are
respected in this country.

2) They don’t have any evidence to convict me since I am not guilty
and if they have made up some, I believe we can expose them.

3) Since US Attorney Sullivan’s objective was to silence me by any
means, it would be crazy for me to cooperate with his objective.

4) Since I am running for office, people will want me to talk about
the legal situation I am in. I can’t afford to say wait for the trial.
They expect me to be candid and have a right to expect me to speak to
the issue of the case, not hide behind my lawyers.

5) While I certainly don’t want to go to jail, some one has to stand
up and challenge the flagrant abuse of power that takes place in many
of the courts of this country every day. If I wind up being the poster
child for racial injustice in this “post racial era”, so be it.

When McNeil found out that I would not sign the gag order, he went
back to court and asked the judge to order me to take the information
and the judge complied. However, I told my lawyer that if McNeil sent
the “discovery” he should send it back unopened. While I thought that
would end McNeil’s feverish attempt to force my silence, he went back
to court yet again in May. This time McNeil asked the Judge to take
away all my legal rights regarding discovery information by ordering
that if I didn’t take the discovery now, I would lose any right to
request motions or continuances on the basis of the discovery when
finally received. Again, McNeil can huff and puff all that he wants
but I am not going to put myself in his trap.

As you can see from the above, McNeil is so determined to silence me,
he has exposed the fact that this trial has nothing to do with
justice.  It’s really about the deal that Sullivan made with Bush,
Cheney, and Ashcroft. What do I mean by that? I personnally believe
that former Attorney General Ashcroft said to Sullivan that if he
could take down Senator Wilkerson and myself, he would put up the
money to open the firm of Ashcroft and Sullivan in Boston where they
could try to secure business for Halliburton to serve as a base while
Sullivan prepares for his run for Governor. Ashcroft seems to have
made similar deals with three other US Attorneys in other parts of the
country. In other words the quid pro quo for taking us down was the
money to open the office.

Hope you can join me on Thursday, July 2nd at noon in Court Room 1 of
the Moakley Courthouse. I think it is not only going to be
fascinating, I think it will also be fun. See you there.

chuck

Chuck Turner Statement 5/10/09

Councilor Chuck Turner releases an update on his campaign and court case to his supporters. 
—–

Good News and An Apology

Chuck Turner Statement 4/22/09

Message to Supporters
City Councilor Chuck Turner
April 22nd 2009

Dear Supporters,

As I announced earlier this year, I plan to run for a sixth term for the District 7 seat on the Council and if successful plan to run for a seventh term in 2011. However, I do not plan to run for the District 7 seat in 2013. Seven terms I believe will be enough to achieve a number of the objectives that led me to run in the first place. I will not go into those details at this time but will certainly expand on these objectives as the campaign moves forward.

Specifically, I am asking for you to join me this Saturday, April 25th from 1-3pm at the First Church in Roxbury where we used to hold our District 7 Roundtables. The meeting will be held in a basement meeting room in the new building and will focus on gathering signatures which will begin on April 28th when we will bring the petitions from City Hall to the District Office. Since there are four candidates for Mayor, it will be important to gather the 191 signatures quickly that we will need to have a place on the ballot.

My plan is to have at least 400 signatures gathered between Tuesday the 28th and Sunday May 3rd so that we can turn in at least 200 good signatures on Monday, May 4th.  By making a quick hit, we can avoid waiting until all the Mayoral signatures are counted to be assured that we have the necessary numbers.  I don’t think that we will have any problems, but would like to end the suspense early.

Also, I invite you to join me at the office of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers (Mamleo)  at 61 Columbia Road on Tuesday the 28th for a press conference that will begin at 10 a.m.  The press conference has three objectives:

1)       The release is a study of homicides in the City over the last twenty years that Darrin Howell of my staff has put together. The study has detailed information on all homicides in Boston during the last ten years including the name, age, race, and sex of all killed as well as similar information for all those arrested. We also have information on the weapon, the location, the relationship, as well as trial results for those arrested.

2)       Announce the formation of a coalition, Community United for Change, which will use the data to start a process of bringing the community together periodically to reflect on the data. Through this process of reflection, we hope to generate recommendations on what we as residents need to do to bring peace to our community as well as generate recommendations on what changes the police need to make in their approach.

3)       Introduce to Boston, Ron Hampton of the National Association of Black Police, and Dr. James Bell of Jackson State University in Mississippi who have agreed to work with us on this process.

The members of the group are the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, Mamleo, the Nubian Voices of Experience in Public Safety, the Nation of Islam, and the offices of Councilor Yancey and myself. I will share more on this new initiative in the coming weeks. We will be distributing the study by email after its release on Tuesday so email Darrin.Howell@cityofboston.gov next week if you would like a copy.

In terms of my legal issues, we are still in a struggle with Asst US Attorney McNeil over the gag order. When Judge Hillman ruled on March 16th that I had to sign a gag order in order to receive discovery, I said to my lawyers that I was adamantly opposed to signing the order since I believe that it would put me in jeopardy of arrest if I continued to speak out. I acknowledged that such a strategy would make their defense more difficult but I don’t believe AUSA McNeil have any evidence beyond that which is in the affidavit.

However, Asst US Attorney McNeil was not satisfied and filed a motion to force my lawyer to sign the protection order so that I have to take “their evidence”. His argument is that if I don’t accept the discovery now, I will ask for a continuance and delay trial later. Obviously, he is saying to the judge and the world that I don’t have any rights that he or the court has to respect. We have sent in an Opposition to the motion, but I have also said to my lawyers that it doesn’t matter what the judge decides, I will not accept the discovery under those conditions. So the plot thickens. By the way, Sullivan resigned as of Sunday. We have also filed a motion for a reconsideration of Judge Hillman’s approval of the original gag order. (We will send copies of the orders, our responses, and accompanying press statements soon.)

Hope to see you Saturday.

chuck

Chuck Turner Press Statement 4/10/09

Councilor Turner Launches Discovery in Court of Public Opinion:
Councilor Turner has sent the following statement to his supporters:

Given our disagreement with the Court’s denial of our reconsideration,
we are appealing that ruling. However, we are also launching our own
discovery process in the Court of Public Opinion. Using my power as a
City Councilor, I am requesting under rule 17 F the following
information on all liquor licenses in Boston.

1) Licensee: 2) Type of License; 3) Date of Issuance; 4) Number of
Transfers in the last 10 years; 5) Location; 6) Race of Licensee (s);
7) Lawyer representing Licensee; 8) City Council District. I am also
requesting information on the number of licensees denied in the last
twenty years and the race of the person requesting, and the firm
representing the requester.

Once I have obtained the above information, I will call for a hearing
to explore the issue of discrimination in the distribution of liquor
licenses in the City of Boston which was brought to the City Council
by Senator Wilkerson. It is essential that the public be informed
regarding this issue since I believe it was the basis of Senator
Wilkerson reaching out to the Council as well as the basis of the
Council’s actions regarding her request. I know that the question of
discrimination was the basis of my filing a hearing on the issue of
liquor licenses on July 19, 2008.

While some may raise questions about my discussing these issues while
awaiting trial regarding liquor licenses, Judge Hillman validated my
right to take such action when he wrote in his March 16th opinion
supporting the government’s request for a protective order,  ”I
further find that the proposed protective order is narrowly drawn to
cover only discovery and does not prevent the defendant from
discussing information learned from an independent source.”

Fundraiser Video

Gag (out of) order

KEVIN CULLEN
Gag (out of) order

By Kevin Cullen, Globe Columnist  |  March 19, 2009

There are some things in this life I assumed I’d never do.

Walk on the moon.

Dunk a basketball.

Kiss Kate Winslet.

Stick up for Chuck Turner.

But having read the decision by US Magistrate Timothy Hillman ordering
City Councilor Turner to do something he has never been very good at -
i.e., keep his trap shut - it is impossible not to feel sympathy for
Comrade Chuck and a little thing called the First Amendment.

Hillman’s ruling is very lawyerly. He cites all the relevant case law
and makes a strong argument that Turner’s disclosure of any
information prosecutors turn over to lawyers defending him against
corruption charges would make a mockery of the process.

The government already did that. Hillman’s order would make more sense
had he issued it before the feds released the video showing FBI
cooperating witness Ron Wilburn slipping Turner what Vinnie Piro once
described as a little walking around money.

Anybody who hasn’t seen that video, or read or heard talk about it, is
either dead, deaf, or blind, and in any case is so insulated from
everyday life as to preclude them from being qualified to sit in
judgment of a parking violation, much less a man’s liberty.

After the release and the media’s unquestioning dissemination of the
incriminating video, to suggest that Turner’s talking about the case
will somehow prevent him from getting a fair trial is a non sequitur.

Let’s be honest here. Chuck Turner has already been tried in the court
of public opinion, and it’s probably safe to say that, his family and
friends aside, this public court has found him guilty, based solely on
the image of him taking a wad of cash. Turner can hold a myriad of
press conferences on City Hall Plaza and point to evidence that
undermines the government’s case all he wants. Most people will
remember only the video.

So, even as Wilburn says he has misgivings about entrapping Turner,
the feds have already accomplished their goal of embarrassing, if not
ruining, Turner.

Whatever you think of Turner, the two things he has in common with
disgraced former senator Dianne Wilkerson, other than being
photographed taking cash from Wilburn, is that he’s black and
represents the most marginalized people in the city. And if you don’t
think that is relevant, I’ll have what you’re having. People who know
Turner don’t believe for a minute he’s corrupt in the old-fashioned
sense of influence peddling or taking money to fund a high life. He
doesn’t have much influence. And he doesn’t live high. Even some of
Wilkerson’s friends admit she’s been ethically challenged for years.

Turner’s problem, God love him, is that he thinks it’s 1973 and you
can still blame The Man for everything. At least he sticks up for poor
people.

It’s truly a marvelous public service that our government has
performed, wiring up an agent provocateur and dispatching him to slip
chump change into the hands of some minor politicians who just happen
to represent the poorest people in the city. Meanwhile, the most
powerful pols in town continue to practice legalized theft, grabbing
our money with both hands, handing out jobs to relatives and cronies,
padding their payrolls, boosting their salaries and pensions while
ours get slashed.

There’s no law against the way politics is practiced at City Hall and
the State House. Steal legally and you can steal at will.

Welcome to Massachusetts, a one-party state, where the pols are the
only ones having a party. We’re just paying for it.

As for the embattled city councilor, if it comes down to choosing
between him and a government that wants to limit free speech when it
suits its purposes, I’m down with Comrade Chuck.

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cullen@globe.com

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/19/gag_out_of_order/

Chuck Turner Rally @ RCC

Over 250 gathered at Roxbury Community College for Turner’s fifth public defense event.

Watch a clip from Chuck Turner Rally:

Thank you to all who attended, and to those who went to court.  More updates coming!