Daniel McGowan and a ham sandwich
New
York, New York, U.S. - In a very unusual turn of events, the government
disclosed some interesting facts about their case against Daniel
McGowan during his transfer/detention hearing in federal court on
December 8th. Daniel was represented by attorney Martin Stolar,
president of the New York chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
Five members of his very supportive and close knit family were in
attendance, as well as his long-time girlfriend and about 25 friends
and co-workers, who only learned of his arrest hours before.
Stolar
was able to meet with him briefly before the hearing and passed a
message from Daniel along to his family and friends that he is innocent
and has no idea what this is all about and that he has never been a
member of the Earth Liberation Front. His family was able to offer a 1
million dollar bond backed up by 3/4 of a million dollars in equity to
secure his release. They were later able to raise their offer to 1.2
million dollars.
Magistrate Roanne Mann heard arguments from the
Assistant U.S. Attorney that claimed Daniel is a flight risk and may
flee in the face of the threat of life in prison. Stolar emphasized
that Daniel would not run and allow the government to seize his entire
family's assets and property leaving them "homeless and penniless". He
implied that the charges that could leave Daniel with a life sentence
would not hold up and made a reference to the joke that a Grand Jury
would indict a ham sandwich.
The
Assistant U.S. Attorney alleged that Daniel was a member of the Earth
Liberation Front, an environmental group that commits acts of sabotage
and property destruction. He said that this group has "extensive
networks throughout the world and has experience secreting people." He
went on to allege that Daniel had made use of these secret networks
before in 2001 to "hide out" in Canada for six months.
The
Assistant U.S. Attorney also weakly claimed Daniel could flee to
Ireland, based on the fact that Daniel is Irish-American and has
visited Ireland a couple of times. Stolar asserted that all of Daniel's
relatives in Ireland had passed away, and that the FBI had confiscated
his passport.
Eugene Police Department Detective and Sheriff's
Deputy Gregory Scott Harvey was sworn in and took the stand in a very
unusual move to support the claim that Daniel is a flight risk.
Detective Harvey stated that in April of 2005, in northern Manhattan, a
person wearing a recording device stood near Daniel as he recounted
leaving Eugene (where he lived in 2001) because it was "too hot".
Daniel was scheduled to participate in the Grassroots Animal Rights Conference
in northern Manhattan in April 2005. At the weekend-long conference, at
least two individuals who were thought to be law enforcement officers
were asked to leave.
Detective Harvey was operating in New York
at the time under the jurisdiction of the FBI at the time of the
surveillance. Harvey alleged that Daniel hid out in a house on River
Road on the outskirts of Eugene for a period with six other individuals
responsible for arsons and that was hiding in Canada in late June and
July of 2001.
He claimed that although Daniel has been working
for years under his legal name and using his social security number,
they were not able to find him because Daniel went by a number of
different names, including Jamie Moran, during the five year period
following the crime.
The government's case that Daniel was a
flight risk rested so heavily on Detective Harvey's recorded
conversation that the magistrate agreed to hear the tape before making
a decision. The hearing was adjourned and continued the next day.
Magistrate Roanne Mann's mind seemed made up on the following day's
hearing and no bail was set.
Daniel was denied bail by a
magistrate and not a judge, which means that he has an opportunity to
appeal the magistrate's denial of bail to a judge. He is currently
being detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center of New York,
where he can be reached by mail. His family has organized a support committee made up of his friends and supporters. They can be contacted at FriendsofDanielMcG@yahoo.com.
http://bombsandshields.blogspot.com/2005/12/unfolding-case-against-daniel.html
