Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Barish on September 11, 2013 at 4:36am

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:

The Court issued a formal "gag order" or is this simply an agreement among the group.    I have real trouble with the whole concept of "gag orders" and "keeping information secret" involving trials.  The whole Judicial System in the United States is set up to avoid Star Chamber (secret) proceedings and to operate in Sunshine.  Court filings and arguments are open to the public.  Many appellant Courts place the oral arguments on line to be heard.  Justice works best in the sunshine and in the United States all Court hearings, with very rare exceptions, are open to the public.  I find it troubling that people think that "hiding" the cases brings about real justice.

Gag orders are rare and are frowned upon. However, there are times when they are needed.  In order for all parties to get a fair trial a judge may issue a gag order where there is tremendous pretrial publicity that could impact the trial or potentially sway the minds of  jurors.  This has been used where the attorneys are trying the case in the court of public opinion rather than in front of the judge. There is a good short discussion of gag orders at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/gag-orders

There has been some public chatter about this case but I am surprised that there is a gag order.  I don't see a lynch mob lining up against San Hamel even though the cycling community has been involved. I don't think anything I have seen in the press has been inflammatory.  I suspect the defense  attorneys fearing this asked for the gag but do not really know.  Given the apparent strength of the evidence against San Hamel, I want  him to get a fair trial. That way there will less reason to question the result.

What is the extent of the gag?  Does it apply to social media? To this forum? Does it apply to all or only to the Court Advocate Committee?

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Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on September 11, 2013 at 4:40am

David: the best person to answer your question is Jason, jason@activetrans.org who is coordinating the Court Advocate program.

Incidentally, I went to a CAPS meeting last week and spoke to two other coordinators in the local Court Advocate program in the 17th District.  They had never heard of any request to refrain from sharing information and thought it was a very odd request.

Sarah D: this is a criminal trial and there is no reason to restrict or discourage public discussion.  The trial will be held in court, not in the public.  The purpose of encouraging discussion is to inform everyone who is interested and to make sure the issues in the criminal trial aren't forgotten. 

There have been many criminal trials that are reported in the major newspapers and television, so I don't think that an open and public discussion on the Chainlink or a bicycle mailing list is going to "compromise" the outcome.

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:

The Court issued a formal "gag order" or is this simply an agreement among the group.  

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Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on September 11, 2013 at 6:16am

Hello Bob.

The next court appearance is Sept. 18th, 10:00 am in room 301 at the same location (26th and California).

The requests as made by the 18th district community policing office regarding information sharing by those trained as Courtroom Advocates has been laid out earlier in this thread as well as the rationale for those requests. To be clear there is no "gag order".

If you have further questions please feel free to email me directly at jason@activetrans.org

Jason Jenkins
Crash Support Programs Manager

jason@activetrans.org

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Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on September 17, 2013 at 2:14am

This is the LAST reminder of the court date tomorrow, Wednesday, 18 September, for Ryne Sanhamel, the alleged drunk driver, allegedly speeding, who allegedly killed cyclist Bobby Cann.

The trial is at the courthouse at 26th and California (Map: http://goo.gl/maps/M3Ajm ) Courtroom 301 at 10:00 AM.

Anyone who attends is encouraged to let the rest of us know about the proceedings by posting on the Chainlink or BIKE-CHI@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU.  If you do attend be aware there are some restrictions in entering the courthouse:  don't bring in you bike helmet or your cell phone. Or carry any bicycle tools.  

There is still an active petition

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/no-plea-bargain-for-ryne strongly discouraging, but not prohibiting the State's Attorney from offering a plea bargain. There are already over 5,000 signature and anyone who hasn't signed it is encouraged to sign it.

Let's not let our attention let this fall our of public consciousness by ignoring the issue. Let's keep it on the front page.

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Permalink Reply by Maurice on September 17, 2013 at 6:36am

The petition is not helpful. The text reflects a serious misunderstanding of how the criminal justice system works.

I believe this was addressed in a different thread.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah D. on September 17, 2013 at 6:55am

There was a meeting at REI with some of the wonderful bike attorneys in our community (and a criminal attorney) who explained why a plea bargain may NOT in fact be the worst thing to happen in this case. It was really eye-opening, though I don't want to get into it here.  Bob, it's too bad you weren't able to attend, but I bet someone would be willing to break it down more descriptively offline. 

Maurice said:

The petition is not helpful. The text reflects a serious misunderstanding of how the criminal justice system works.

I believe this was addressed in a different thread.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on September 4, 2014 at 11:47am

Ryne San Hamel Hearing:
Time: October 30th, 2014 at 10am
Location: Leighton Criminal Court Building
Street: 2600 S California Ave
City/Town: Chicago IL
Website or Map: http://goo.gl/maps/2bT1H
Phone: 877-846-3445
Event Type: hearing, or, trial
Organized By: Judge William Hooks
Latest Activity: September 4, 2014
The next HEARING in the continuing sage of the legal process for Ryne Sanhamel, while allegedly driving drunk with an alleged Blood-Alcohol level of .127 allegedly drove into and allegedly killed cyclist Bobby Cann. This is a criminal proceeding, not a civil proceeding.;

Case No. 13CR1355001
WWW.vinelink.com
VINELink is the online version of VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday), the National Victim Notification Network. This service allows crime victims to obtain timely and reliable information about criminal cases and the custody status of offenders 24 hours a day. Some states have the ability to display this website in Spanish.
Victims and other concerned citizens can also register to be notified by phone, email, text message (SMS) or TTY device when an offender's custody status changes. Users can also register through their participating state or county toll-free number.

The date is October 30th, 2014 at 10am, Judge William Hooks presiding.

If you’re interested there’s also an automated system available that you can call to get updates on the court case info with regards to location, date and time. The number is 877-846-3445.  Individuals calling this number can simply enter the offender's Identification Record number, which is 2208764 and receive court location, date and time.  In addition, the automated system gives the option for individuals to enter their phone number to receive updated court information.

The petition to discourage accepting a plea bargain instead of a criminal trail is atill available:  http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/no-plea-bargain-for-ryne?source=c....
You can continue to sign the petition if you haven't already.  Signatures to the petition will still continue to be forwarded to Anita Alverez, the Cook County District Attorney.

A refresher for those who may be forgetting or aren't aware of this:

  The death of Bobby Cann shook Chicago's bicycling community to its core.  On a May 29th 2013 at around 6:35 p.m., Cann was struck and killed by Ryne San Hamel who was allegedly driving his Mercedes sedan 20 miles per hour over the speed limit.  San Hamel was charged with driving under the influence, having an alleged blood alcohol content of .127, well over the legal limit.  There was immediate wide spread outrage at the driver, heartfelt empathy for Cann's family and many friends, and fear among regular city cyclists.  A temporary memorial popped up at the site of the crash, which occurred outside of iconic Chicago bike shop Yojimbo's Garage.  In October, Clybourn Avenue was named Honorary Bobby Cann Way.  That same month The Reader featured Cann on its front page with the headline, "Death of a Cyclist." - See more at:

http://www.mybikeadvocate.com/2013/12/2013-years-biggest-bicycle-st...

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