At long last we are moving rapidly toward a trial. It will still not come until late spring or early summer but it will be upon us swiftly. This next court date is our opportunity to begin to organize to make this trial for audio-recording my arrest for selling art for $1 into a national/international event that properly embarrasses the City of Chicago for violating its citizen’s rights. On February 14^th we will have the oral arguments over our motion to dismiss my case based on First Amendment issues. This will be a very interesting discussion – well worth your attendance.

Art Patch art by Jenny Rotten from the Art Patch Project - http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/fs-art-patch-project-instructions.htm

We need all supporters who want to help to meet us at 26^th and California on February 14^th at 10:30am in front of room 602. Those who will be there should reply to this e-mail so we can plan. This will be a very quiet show of force. We will save the theatrics for the trial.

A little perspective is valuable. The State’s Attorney’s Office would like to frame this as simply a trial of a long haired troublemaker charged with violating the rights of a hard working policeman. It is not. It is about silencing the voice of an activist in Chicago with a long prison sentence.

In reality it is a trial about the First Amendment. I was arrested violating the peddlers license to test its constitutionality and to demonstrate our First Amendment right to sell art in public. This is a misdemeanor. The police knew I and my team of artists were on a mission to do this because we told them so. My arresting officer was the head of the Homeland Security detail responsible for the entire area around Macys in the Loop on State Street. You can be sure he was hand picked to do the job.

Why? Because three weeks earlier we had tried have me arrested and the police balked. That previous time I was ticketed and told I would be arrested then if I continued. We continued. A patty wagon shadowed me for an hour and a half awaiting instructions that day. Police in plain clothes and in uniforms observed our actions while communicating with each other and headquarters by radio during that entire time but never acted. Finally, we headed off for a late lunch to talk about our next attempt. You can not tell me the police did not know who we were and what we were up to. The day I was arrested it took about an hour before the arresting officer showed up. That is just enough time for us to be observed and for the police to put their pre-made plan into operation sending their senior officer to arrest me to make sure everything went smoothly.

Once I was cuffed in the jail waiting room and they discovered I had audio-recorded my arrest a three hour gap appeared before they decided just how to handle me. I was arrested at 1:30. The arresting officer heard my tape about an hour later after he was informed I had taped my arrest. Hours later at 4:00 a detective told me they had not decided yet what to charge me with. “If you are charged with a felony you will go to Cook County Jail in the morning and if the charge is a misdemeanor you will be set free tonight,” he told me.

This decision came down from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office not from the arresting officer. The decision was to use a portion of the eavesdropping law enacted by the State Legislature to punish gang members caught spying on the justice system at 26^th and California with modified cell phones and pagers recording the internal conversations of judges, assistant state’s attorneys and policemen. Normally, if a person records the conversation they are having in Illinois without informing the another person to the conversation the penalty would be a class 4 felony, if it ever reached the stage of contention. A class 4 felony was not enough punishment for those who would exercise their First Amendment rights to challenge the status-quot in Chicago.

Even applying the class 4 felony to the act of recording a policeman in public who is arresting or interrogating you a is highly suspect act by a State’s Attorney in America today any where but Illinois and two other states. Thus, applying the obviously inappropriate charge of class 1 felony is an outrageous act of malicious prosecution. This charge was aimed at taking my First Amendment right to be a social critic away by intimidating and threatening me with up to 15 years in a state prison. It had nothing to do with me violating the arresting officers rights and the arresting officer didn’t even make the decision to prosecute, the State’s Attorney’s Office did. The only proof I need to offer to verify this is the logic of the story I have just told. Tell me without grinning that it is not true.

Artropolis – artist protest.

This is a call for all artists who want to Occupy Artropolis and protest the lack of open-air opportunities to survive by our art in Chicago. Artropolis is an annual event for artists to showcase their work at the Merchandise Mart. Booths cost three thousand dollars and above for three days exposure. Most artists can’t afford to attend. At the same time the laws of Chicago prevent us from surviving by selling art on the street and creating art scenes where people are used to seeing us promote our art.

So we will ask artists to show their art outside the Merchandise Mart along Wells Street during Artropolis. You may pass out your business cards and promote your websites to those attending Artropolis without the expensive fees artists are paying inside. At the same time we will be promoting changes that lead to an artist friendlier City of Chicago where artists are encouraged to survive by creating open-air art scenes to sell their art to the public. Reply to this email if interested in joining us.

Growth of Bill HR 3944 (to make it legal to audio record police) in the State Legislature

Bill HR 3944 is assigned to Judiciary 1 – Civil Law Committee for a hearing on Tuesday. To see committee members to be contacted regarding your views visit

http://www.ilga.gov/house/committees/members.asp?committeeID=895

E-mail or call the legislators on the committee at the link above to express your views before Tuesday.

Hearing Jan 31 2012 3:30PM Stratton Building Room D-1 Springfield, IL

The ACLU has provided a contact your legislators link below to make your view easy to express to your own legislators.

https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4001

The States Attorney’s Office indicated they had no response regarding our motion to dismiss on First Amendment grounds and that he would rely on his oral argument to present the State’s case.

http://art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/111025-MOTION-to-declare-720-ILCS-5-14-UNCONSTITUTIONAL.pdf

February 14^th at 11:00 was set as the date for us to present oral arguments on this motion. This day is worth attending.

Posada by Carlos Cortez - art-patch art from the Art Patch Project http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/fs-art-patch-project-instructions.htm

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-eavesdropping-bill-20120113,0,4634735.story

Democratic state representative from Northbrook has filed the bill. “I believe that the existing statute is a significant intrusion into First Amendment rights…this is a problem in need of a swift solution,” Rep. Elaine Nekritz said. In the last few days seven other representatives have signed on as sponsors.

Art Patch by Sharon DeLaCruz entitled e-freedom from the Art Patch Project http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/fs-art-patch-project-instructions.htm

Follow the progress of her bill (HB 3944) at this link:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=3944&GAID=11&GA=97&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=62774&SessionID=84

Obama administration says Constitution protects cell phone recordings

The Obama administration has told a federal judge that Baltimore police officers violated the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments by seizing a man’s cell phone and deleting its contents. The deletions were allegedly in retaliation for the man’s use of the phone to record the officers’ arrest of his friend. According to the Maryland ACLU, this is the first time the Obama Justice Department has weighed in on whether the Constitution protects citizens’ right to record the actions of police with their cell phones.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/obama-administration-says-constitution-protects-cell-phone-recordings.ars

Tiawanda Moore Sues City

Tiawanda Moore has decided to sue the City of Chicago for her false arrest and malicious prosecution. Thank you Tiawanda! The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office needs badly to be shaken-up for the way they violate citizen’s civil rights with malicious porsecutions like that of Tiawanda Moore’s and myself. On the other hand they let murderers walk free if they are politically connected. This office is corrupt from the top down. They exist to shield the political elete and crush any resistance from the people in the street.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-woman-tiawanda-moore-acquitted-in-eavesdropping-case-against-chicago-police-department-files-lawsuit-20120114,0,6426914.story

Battle to Record Police Around the Nation

Another sad illustration of police trying to violate a citizen’s right to video-record their public misdeeds. In a disturbing note, Youtube apparently participated in censoring the original video. We will be very watchful of Youtube in the future to determine a trend if they repeatedly censor police critical videos.

http://boingboing.net/2012/01/12/sheriff-deputy-punches.html

Beachwood Report Reprints your E-mail from Me

The Beachwood Report started something by printing on-line my recent letter to you explaining our activities. Then I got an e-amil from Ronald Roenigk of Inside Publications asking to publish my letter in the Booster and News Star nieghborhood newspapers. This is a big help because it allows me to tell our story including our dreams for Chicago and reflect our view of the Cities treatment of me that has never been expressed anywhere to date. This should find us some friends once they realize the outrageous nature of this attempted act of censorship by the City and Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Look for the Booster or the New Star if you are around the northside of Chicago this week. Otherwise check the link below and later expect to see a scanned image of tear-page in the next e-mail.

http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/politics/fighting_for_your_rights_in_20.php

UPDATES

Michael Allison

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed notice that she will appeal the ruling directly to the state Supreme Court but wants to delay arguments until after a ruling comes down in another eavesdropping case before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The Illinois Supreme Court denied the request to delay the proceedings. They will rule sometime in the coming months.

My (Chris Drew) Next Court Date:

January 24^th - 26^th and California, room 602, Judge Sacks

The State’s Attorney will file their response to our motion to dismiss based on 1^st and 4^th Amendment grounds. We will likely set another date to respond to the issues they respond with. Once we have lodged our response to their arguments then we will set a date for the hearing of oral arguments on the motion. This should bring us into late February or early March.

Nikita Biddle

Nikita ran into trouble when she and her lawyer missed a court appointment. Nikita was jailed initially on a bogus eavesdropping charge, held in jail for 80 days and released only after signing a plea bargain agreement for a class 4 felony. The system has been screwing her around ever since. Read her story here. She just got out of jail on 12/16/11. Her next move is to file a new 1402 (Motion to vacate a plea) to bring into court the issue of her forced plea bargain. She is considering filing a civil suit in U.S. District Court.

Democratic state representative from Northbrook has filed the bill. “I believe that the existing statute is a significant intrusion into First Amendment rights…this is a problem in need of a swift solution,” Rep. Elaine Nekritz said.

Art Patch by Jeneba Koroma from the Art Patch Project http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/fs-art-patch-project-instructions.htm

Welcome to Chicago - get a free anti-war patch printed on the spot by C Drew. photo by Ron Grenko

More to come shortly (15 more photos in this essay).

Protest mural Chicago peace march photo by Ron Grenko

C Drew gets some help from Tara O'Shea - the best volunteer around. Photo by Ron Grenko

Printing in the shadow of my bike. photo by Ron Grenko

Tara watches while I jam. I can't print fast enough at events. photo by Ron Grenko

I explain the latest news of my class 1 felony case for audio recording my arrest for selling art for $1. photo by Ron Grenko

After I explained I am promoting the civil right of audio recording police in public without fear I dived back into printing art-patches. photo by Ron Grenko

Anita Alvarez, the Cook County State's Attorney, is scaring citizens from using their cell phones to expose wrongdoing by Chicago police by attempting to convict me of audio-recording my own arrest. photo by Ron Grenko

We are fighting back by telling this story far and wide bringing the right of citizens to oversee our police with the sunshine of our cell phone recordings. photo by Ron Grenko

I am printing in public at protest gatherings and selected art events while writing press releases and giving interviews. photo by Ron Grenko

At protests I print and give the art-patches away free. The patches are drawing interest to our website and the issue of selling art in public as well as our right to oversee our public servants. photo by Ron Grenko

Protesting the war(s) is how I began to learn how Chicago's laws marginalize the public's voices and artists in particular. Cook County and Chicago spend millions of dollars to surround our peaceful protest by police to intimidate the public. photo by Ron Grenko

They pass unconstitutional laws that limit where artists can sell their art to destroy all street art culture. In the only nation with a First Amendment we should have more rights then anywhere in the world to sell our art but we have less rights than artists in Moscow Russia. Our speech rights are violated. photo by Ron Grenko

Now when I protest the war I also protest to win back our full speech rights in Chicago and to win your right to gather evidence in public when you are abused by a police officer in Illinois. photo by Ron Grenko

We need these rights. We need peace. The wars are draining our wealth and making everyone poorer except the richest of the rich who don't care if you die overseas or here in America without healthcare. photo by Ron Grenko

It's time for a change and everyone one of us needs to speak up. Get up - Stand up - Stand up for YOUR rights. photo by Ron Grenko

Police Brutality during the Civil Rights Movement by Carlos Cortez (an Art Patch Project design)

The Nikita Biddle Story

In 2009 Nikita Biddle was a young courageous single woman struggling to emerge into her adult life. Nikita and her sister stayed in public housing in Kane County. They each had separate apartments. Nikita’s sister became caught up in the tensions of daily life and drawn into a fight with a neighbor on December 2, 2009. Nikita helped to break up this fight. The fight resulted in an eviction action against Nikita’s sister. Despite the fact that Nikita helped to break up the fight, the property manager also initiated an eviction action against Nikita who was never involved in fighting but in making peace. The fact is that criminal charges were never filed against Nikita because the police saw her innocence on video footage of the fight incident and they also informed her landlord of her neutral behavior during the incident.

Nikita was brave enough to fight this unfair eviction action. Her eviction trial on was set for April 28, 2010. Before this court date, the landlord knew that she and the housing authority were going to lose the eviction lawsuit. The property manager appears to have joined forces with two police officers to either set Nikita up or to scare her to pack up and leave her apartment building.

Two policemen who were notorious for abusing tenants and had been on duty at this site for a long time, began a campaign of the harassment of Nikita to try to force her to give up her fight to maintain her public housing because they knew that her innocence would of been proven during her eviction trial date. Joshua Horton, was one of the officers harassing Nikita. He and his partner tried to intimidate Nikita in the stairwell of the building in late January 2010. When they attempted to harass her Nikita called 911 to report them but the dispatcher told her to just come to the station to make a report. The officers not only followed and harassed her on the stairwell, they also followed her off of the stairwell to her sister’s apartment continually trying to instigate a negative and violent response out of her. She did not respond to their attempt to provoke her.

Two weeks after being harassed in the stairwell, the two policemen showed up at her door (Feb 2, 2010) claiming she was under investigation for sending the property manager a threatening letter. She had not sent the property manager a threat and considered this visit to be part of their pattern of intimidation. She asked them to leave her alone and she tried to shut her door but one of the officers put his foot in her door. She told him to remove his foot and get out of her apartment because he didn’t have a warrant.He removed his foot, but then stuck a shim into the gap of the door by the hinges so she couldn’t shut her door. They continued to harass her. On other occasions, as well, they and the property manager made her life miserable in many ways with intimidating acts and statements.

By February 17, 2010 it was apparent to Nikita that she needed some evidence of what the authorities in her building were doing to her so she could fight her eviction in court. She brought an old battery operated tape deck to the lobby of the building to try to openly record the intimidation and threats of the property manager and the officer Joshua Horton, one of the two antagonistic policemen. The Officer immediately arrested Nikita Biddle for eavesdropping. The other officer at the scene wrote a false disorderly conduct complaint along with the property manager for disturbing her peace and the peace of other tenants - none of whom were named in the complaint. She was handcuffed and sent immediately to jail for two days at the Aurora police department.

In her arraignment the misdemeanor charge for disturbing the peace was dropped but the felony charge of eavesdropping was upheld and she was locked up with a bond beyond her ability to pay. She remained in the Kane County jail without bail at the mercy of the court. The court had no mercy.

On April 28, 2010 a correctional officer took her out of her county jail cell and transported her to her eviction trial in another town. She was handcuffed and chained, dressed in an orange jail outfit and transported in a police patty wagon to her eviction trial. She was brought before a judge. The property manager, policemen, and executive director of the housing authority were there and were represented by their AHA lawyer. Nikita was made to sit separately from everyone else and humiliated by her treatment, as if she were a dangerous criminal, when she had only tried to gather evidence in public for this court. This was a bench trial. Nikita defended herself pro SE. The Judge saw on the video and that Nikita wasn’t violently involved. The judge upon hearing that Nikita had been the peace maker and that there was no evidence to back up the claims of the housing authorities – found for Nikita.

Nikita was innocent! All Nikita wanted to do was gather evidence in public for her eviction trial to show how these government authorities were trying to harm her. She won her trial even without this evidence. They then took her back to the Kane county jail on the “eavesdropping charge” because she could not afford bail. This is how some government employees are using your tax money.

She spent a total of 80 days locked up at your expense until she finally agreed to plead guilty to a class 4 felony in order to be released from jail on May 7, 2010. She was fined $4,000, ordered to make monthly payments and placed on probation.

Nikita lost her public housing. She lost her job during the turmoil of this incident. She had a felony hung around her neck that makes looking for work much more difficult. This is how the Illinois eavesdropping law is being used to violate the basic rights of innocent and vulnerable citizens in Illinois who only want to audio-record public officials in public to protect themselves in court.

Nikita is a young woman who now is tagged for life unless she is some how able to challenge this miscarriage of justice in Illinois. She is presently bravely attempting a pro-SE challenge of her conviction. This young person spends her time on the Internet at a local college learning how to legally fight for her freedom.

Freedom is something we take for granted until we find it taken from us. The Illinois eavesdropping law, as it is being applied to innocent people who audio-record public servants in public, is a violation of everyone’s rights and we do not find out about that until we try to stand up for our rights. Nikita is standing up for her rights in Illinois. By fighting for her rights against this unjust law she is helping to fight for your rights, as well. Is there anyone with legal knowledge willing to help her by e-mail with this daunting process? How can we tolerate these violations of our rights and still sing our national anthem? Nikita is brave and is struggling to be free in America. Who else is willing to help her work for freedom? Nikita Biddle may be contacted at queenniki88@gmail.com

Tom Robinson Gallery, 2416 W. North Avenue, Chicago, Friday, February 18 for the forum Smart Phones - Dumb Laws and CAN-TV was in attendance. photo by Nancy Bechtol

Sponsored by Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art , The Ad Hoc Committee for Reason,
World Can’t Wait — Chicago & Evanston Chapters , Endorsed by Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism

C Drew explained shortly his evolution from arts administrator to freedom fighter by advocating for the needs if Chicago's most vulnerable artists. photo by Nancy Bechtol

Gregory Koger explained his evolution into a Communist freedom fighter emerging from his youthful incarceration with a new awareness and resolve to serve humanity. He completed his narrative with the story of his arrest for cover charges after recording on his cell phone a friend at the Ethical Humanist Society in Skokie, Illinois. photo by Nancy Bechtol

Mark Weinberg added constitutional legal depth to our discussion with background legal expertise explaining relevant First Amendment case law that highlighted the historical nature of the Chris Drew eavesdropping case. photo by Nancy Bechtol

The lawyer for Gregory Koger, Jed Stone, was unable to make it. The very able Jay Becker filled in describing the legal aspects of Kogers case. photo by Nancy Bechtol

On Saturday, February 26, I attended the rally at the State of Illinois Building in Chicago to protest along with the Wisconsin workers. Ron Grenko attended and shot this series.

I had made the screen just the day before. I was hoping the weather would allow me to print outside. Photo by Ron Grenko

It was snowing lightly but I tucked myself behind the crowd under the eaves of the Center and printed madly for about 75 minutes. Photo by Ron Grenko

I called out - Free Art Patches - Free Worker's Rights patches - and people began picking them up and using the safety pins provided to pin the patches to their clothing. Photo by Ron Grenko

By the time the rally was over I had given away several hundred patches and been interview by a videographer and a Tribune writer. I added an art component to the rally and promoted my felony audio-recording of police case story widely. Photo by Ron Grenko

Sunday, February 27, two artists contributed two new art-patch designs to the Art Patch Project. Mario and Natasha came through. Photo by c drew

On Saturday, March 5th, I visited the Murphy Hill Gallery at 3333 W Arthington to hear Rahmaan Statik and Max Sansing talk about - The Future of Street Art in Chicago. photo by c drew

The talk turned out to be about Hip-Hop art not selling in public but after listening to the discussion Rahmaan Statik said, “I attended your workshop in 2004 with a friend.” photo by c drew

I had great conversation with a number of those present and promoted my case and the right of artists to sell in public. One young artist knew Akbar and Slang. “I started our arts group with Akbar’s mother,” I told him. I had a great time. photo by c drew