For Immediate Release May 11, 2006 WORLD CAN'T WAIT--DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME www.worldcantwait.org Press contact: Cleveland, 216-633-6200 cleveland@worldcantwait.org JUDGE ORDERS WORLD CAN'T WAIT ACTIVIST TO JAIL PSYCH UNIT If you think Bush is Guilty of War Crimes, you are Delusional. May 10: Judge Timothy McGinty incarcerated an activist with World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Regime in the psych unit of the Cuyahoga County Jail in downtown Cleveland, where she now sits for an indefinite period of time. On April 28, after a 5-day trial, Carol Fisher was found guilty of 2 counts of assault on police officers for posting a sign on a telephone pole announcing World Can't Wait's protests against Bush's State of the Union address. She faces a possible 3 years in prison and a mandatory psych exam. In a hastily called hearing on May 10, Judge McGinty made a highly unusual decision to force Carol to undergo a state psychological exam as part of her pre-sentencing investigation. From the start of Carol's case, the judge has said that she must have mental problems for resisting an unlawful and brutal encounter with Cleveland Heights police. Terry Gilbert, one of Carol's attorneys said, "This is Gulag stuff--saying that people who are dissidents are crazy." He said that in his 33 years of practicing law, he has never seen anything like this. The small courtroom on the 21st floor of the Justice Center was ringed with 5 armed court bailiffs. McGinty started off the hearing by making Carol stand up and had one of her attorneys read her t-shirt, which said: "Wanted for Illegally Crossing Borders: The Bush Regime. If you are going to insist that crossing borders illegally is a crime which cannot be tolerated, how about George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice (and yes, Colin Powell) and the rest of that gang, with their highly illegal, and violent, 'crossing of the border'-into Iraq, among other places?!" McGinty then said this was further proof she is delusional. He also kept saying Carol "wants" to go to jail because she is not willing to comply with a vindictive court ordered test to "prove" her sanity. When Carol tried to explain why she wouldn't take this test, the judge's only response was, "I do not negotiate with felons." Before being shipped off to jail, Carol said, "I'd be crazy to go along with this shit! That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn--or be forced--to accept." On the phone this morning from the psych unit, Carol Fisher said that McGinty has taken away her eyeglasses and put her on "suicide watch." If she refuses the psych exam, she will be forcibly sent to North Coast Mental Institute for a 20 day evaluation. Legal challenges are continuing, including seeking a writ of habeas corpus.
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