Jason Jenkins at ActiveTrans is helping to coordinate community response. If there is any chance you can attend proceedings, please reach out to him:
jason@activetrans.org.
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The case continues to drag on. The gag order pretty much guarantees nothing of consequence will leak out of the hearings, certainly not before the transcript for a particular hearing is released, well after-the-fact. For the most part, the hearings seem to be trivial little procedural exercises with no actual content directly related to the facts of the case. It's not ATA's fault that there is nothing to report out.
"It's not ATA's fault that there is nothing to report out."
Agreed.
I like this detailed history of both people.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/cyclist-bobby-cann-bike-safety...
Especially note the many DUIs plea bargained down without a drivers license suspension by municipal courts. We should make it MANDATORY that any DUI ticket go to the COUNTY DA.
Mike Schwab: The petition to discourage accepting a plea bargain instead of a criminal trail is still 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.
Alex Z: I've asked to be included. The last message I got from Jason Jenkins was an auto "out of office" replay on Dec 26th 2014.
Bob, is it okay to double-sign? I'm pretty sure I signed it at one point, but am not going to page backwards ten at a time through over 5600 names to verify that.
Skip: it's OK to double-sign but it's discouraged. It just look like trying to run up the numbers so it's best if there aren't a lot of duplicate names. If you're "pretty sure" I wouldn't sign again.
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/no-plea-bargain-for-ryne?source=c....
I reached out to Active Trans and Jason was very responsive and helpful. On one hand, as a cyclist, this is a very important issue to me and I really appreciate being able to learn about what is going on. I know I'm not alone in feeling this way - it is just as important to so many Chainlink members. That said, we need to be careful about how we discuss the case and be sensitive to the wishes of the friends and family of the victim.
Yasmeen -
I appreciate your reply but I have two issues. And pardon my being direct here.
First, this is so much more than about Bobby. It is about every cyclist in this city feeling like they have a voice in this matter. A voice that is heard in the court of law and that works for the benefit of all cyclists. There are so many bikers that are hit or injured and have no voice. Hijacking the cause seems like the generally proper thing to do here. We can't bring Bobby back but maybe out of this horrible situation, we can help keep the rest of the community somewhat safer as a result of our efforts.
But, I understand why ATA and the family (and no doubt the defense) would want to keep this focused. Which leads me to the second issue. ATA has lost all my support. I would rally against them but it is not in my best interest. They certainly do not owe me anything regarding this trial but I do expect (or, past tense, expected) them to advocate for cyclists. By continuing with their cloud of information control, they no longer speak for the masses and have alienated this former donor.
How do we turn the page away from the back and forth around courtroom updates? I would prefer to advocate for as much media coverage of this event as possible. I would want to have a show of force at each stage of the process. I would want the court to know that there are many cyclists still interested in this. I would want a loud, clear and strong message to get to (allegedly) drunk drivers that they cannot get behind the wheel with impunity if they have the right resources. This site can be so much more impactful if we can figure out a way to organize and use this venue to create an action plan around getting the message out.
When this is all over are we going to be proud of our efforts or ashamed? Right now, I am in the latter. I am going away from this to consider how I can make an impact here. I am sure there are wiser folks here that can carry this forward/be leaders. I hope to see them step up.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxNL98-J8ijgS2pBSEtNVWZyaEU/edit
This is the transcript from the hearing on April 20th. There have been at least three hearings after this, the most recent was June 2nd.
Distributed on Google Drive, and I'm not too familiar with using this. If it doesn't "work" let me know and I'll try to find something else. If you have any suggestions, let me know that too.
Thanks for the update. I was able to read it just fine.
Interesting that Judge Hooks wants to get things moving: "... this case has been around too long in the Court's opinion based upon the nature of the case." Maybe that's just his way of telling both attorneys to be ready to argue/state progress at every hearing.
Given that we're now into the THIRD YEAR since this killing, I can certainly agree with him!
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