As I posted on earlier, federal prosecutors have issued subpoenas for records concerning anti-war activists who gathered at a meeting at Drake University. Some under investigation believe it may stem from an incident where a demonstrator was charged with a misdemeanor assault against a peace officer.
A judge has issued a gag order forbidding Drake University officials from discussing the subpoenas. But the Catholic Peace Ministry director Brian Terrell, one of those subpoenaed, has issued the following press release:
Yesterday, February 3, Detective Jeff Warford of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office-FBI-Joint Terrorism Task Force came to Catholic Peace Ministry’s office here in Des Moines with a subpoena for me to testify before a Federal Grand Jury next Tuesday, February 10. Mr. Warford also served papers on Elton Davis at the Catholic Worker House and Patti McKee, who was coordinator of Iowa Peace Network until last month. The Grand Jury process is shrouded in secrecy. We do not know who or what the object of this investigation may be, beyond “possible violations of federal criminal law in the Southern District of Iowa.”
The proceeding will be behind closed doors. We may not have an attorney present. We have the right to plead the Fifth Amendment, refusing the answer questions that might incriminate us. The government, then, can offer us immunity from prosecution, in which case we will obliged to answer under threat of contempt of court and could be imprisoned for the length of the Grand Jury session, 18 months, should we continue to refuse to answer. This immunity would be limited to our own testimony and anything any of us say could be used against the others.
Whatever is going on, this is definitely an escalation on the part of the government’s war on dissent and clamp down on civil liberties. The fact that anything that we three and the peacemaking communities we represent could possibly attract the notice of a “Terrorism Task Force” is reprehensible. Please spread the word, express concerns you have with Federal and Polk County authorities. Keep us in mind and prayer.
Brian Terrell
Executive Director
Catholic Peace Ministry
Disheartening
Feds get subpoena for protesters. What’s worse, a judge has unconstitutionally gagged the university involved. Brian has more….
This may be objectionable, but it is stansard procedure for Grand Jury proceedings and has been all along, including not being able to have a lawyer with you.
A tip about pleading the Fifth: in normal proceedings, you can do it for individual questions but in the Grand Jury room if you answer any question other than your name and address you cannot subsequently invoke the Fifth.