A Tilted Guide To Being A Defendant

350 Pages·2017·1.283 MB·English

by  Tilted Scales Collective

A TILTED GUIDE TO
BEING A DEFENDANT
the tilted scales collective
combustion books
A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant
Copyright 2017 The Tilted Scales Collective
tiltedscalescollective.org
Published by Combustion Books
combustionbooks.org
ISBN: 978-1-938660-18-4
This work is protected by the Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. You are free to
make copies or distribute it so long as you attribute the author, do not
make derivative works, nor distribute it commercially.
Version 1.1
For our imprisoned comrades in struggle
who have joined the ancestors

CONTENTS
3
Acknowledgments
7
About Tilted Scales Collective
9
Introduction
15
Chapter 1
On Being a Defendant
Never Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand . . . . . . . . . . .21
Know Your Rights—And Use Them! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Going to Court for Your First Hearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Talking About Your Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Talking to Loved Ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
A Word on Media and Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
39
Chapter 2
Setting and Balancing Personal,
Political, and Legal Goals
Personal Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Political Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Legal Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Balancing Your Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Working with Others to Achieve Your Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
83
Chapter 3
Common Legal Situations
Some General Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Grand Juries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Surveillance and Infiltration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Conspiracy Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Entrapment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Terrorism Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
A Parting Reminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
109
Chapter 4
Working with Your Lawyer
Hurry Up and Wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Finding an Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Building a Healthy Relationship with Your Attorney . . . . .128
135
Chapter 5
Working with Your Codefendants
General Considerations for
Working with Your Codefendants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
If All of You are in Custody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
If Some of You are in Custody
and Others are Not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
If None of You are in Custody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Non-Association Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
When Codefendants Flip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
153
Chapter 6
Working with Your Defense Committee
Common Roles a Defense Committee Plays . . . . . . . . . . . .155
Some Considerations for Working with Your
Defense Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Potential Liabilities of Having a Defense Committee . . . . .169
173
Chapter 7
Working with the Media
Some Basic Truths about the Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
Engaging the Media as
Radicals and Revolutionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Strategic Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Media Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Special Considerations for Criminal Charges . . . . . . . . . . 203
213
Chapter 8
Resolving Your Case
A Conspiracy against Defendants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Preparing to Resolve Your Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218
Going to Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Negotiating a Plea Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Sentencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
253
Chapter 9
Surviving in Prison
General Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254
Staying True to You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264
Political Development in Prison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266
Staying Connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Weathering Appeals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
Dealing with Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275
Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
279
Conclusion
281
Appendix A
The Criminal Legal Process
1 . Grand Jury/Preliminary Hearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281
2 . Arraignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .282
3 . Bail Hearing(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .282
4 . Pre-trial Motion Hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284
5 . Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285