Sharon Rondeau has published an interview at the Post & Email with an unnamed observer1 at the trial of George Joseph Raudenbush III (2006 Raudenbush photo at right), a case that I have not been following and know little about. (There is some discussion of the fellow over at The Fogbow which I haven’t read yet.) I wouldn’t be writing about it now except for the birther angle created by the Walter Fitzpatrick III connection.
Apparently Raudenbush had some run-in with the police that allegedly involved speeding and resisting arrest. Rondeau’s article is: Reporter With Recording Device Allowed to Remain in Monroe County Courtroom after Fitzpatrick Was Removed for Allegedly Having a Recorder…Which He Didn’t Have.
What was disturbing about the article was not what is described in the article’s title, but the observer’s description of the trial. According to the article:
- Raudenbush asked for an attorney but was refused one, and told he had to represent himself.
- Raudenbush was in custody and unable to prepare his defense.
- The court refused most of Raudenbush’s witnesses
- Police officers lied under oath
- Raudenbush was not allowed to present evidence of prior misconduct on the part of the police witnesses (misconduct that the observer seemed remarkably informed on).
- One reporter (who allegedly had a recording device) was barred from the court room.
- Raudenbush was convicted of a charge not returned by the Grand Jury.2
- The judge forced the jury to remain until midnight and return a verdict.
If the full account is accurate and complete, Raudenbush (convicted on all counts), didn’t get a fair trial. In fact, the whole description of the trial sounds like some Soviet show trial from the 1960’s. It’s very powerful stuff and very upsetting.
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