the answerers. COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS
AGAINST HIMSELF: Drug tests are being required from
more and more people, even when there is no probable
cause, no accident, and no suspicion of drug use. Requiring
people to take drug tests compels them to provide evidence
against themselves. DEPRIVED OF LIFE, LIBERTY, OR
PROPERTY WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW: This
clause is violated on each of the items life, liberty, and
property. Incidents including such violations are described
elsewhere in this article. Here are two more: On March 26,
1987, in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, Jeffrey Miles was killed
by police officer John Rucker, who was looking for a
suspected drug dealer. Rucker had been sent to the wrong
house; Miles was not wanted by police. He received no due
process. In Detroit, $4,834 was seized from a grocery store
after dogs detected traces of cocaine on three one-dollar
bills in a cash register. PRIVATE PROPERTY TAKEN
FOR PUBLIC USE WITHOUT JUST
COMPENSATION: RICO is shredding this aspect of the
Bill of Rights. The money confiscated by Sheriff Vogel goes
directly into Vogel’s budget; it is not regulated by the
legislature. Federal and local governments seize and auction
boats, buildings, and other property. Under RICO, the
government is seizing property without due process. The
victims are required to prove not only that they are not guilty
of a crime, but that they are entitled to their property.
Otherwise, the government auctions off the property and
keeps the proceeds. Amendment VI In all criminal
prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy
and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district
shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be
confronted with the witnesses against him; to have
compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses in his favor, and
to have the assistance of counsel for his defence. THE
RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL:
Surprisingly, the right to a public trial is under attack. When
Marion Barry was being tried, the prosecution attempted to
bar Louis Farrakhan and George Stallings from the gallery.
This request was based on an allegation that they would
send silent and “impermissible messages” to the jurors. The
judge initially granted this request. One might argue that the
whole point of a public trial is to send a message to all the
participants: The message is that the public is watching; the
trial had better be fair. BY AN IMPARTIAL JURY: The
government does not even honor the right to trial by an
impartial jury. US District Judge Edward Rafeedie is
investigating improper influence on jurors by US marshals in
the Enrique Camarena case. US marshals apparently illegally
communicated with jurors during deliberations. OF THE
STATE AND DISTRICT WHEREIN THE CRIME
SHALL HAVE BEEN COMMITTED: This is incredible,
but Manuel Noriega is being tried so far away from the place
where he is alleged to have committed crimes that the United
States had to invade another country and overturn a
government to get him. Nor is this a unique occurrence; in a
matter separate from the Camarena case, Judge Rafeedie
was asked to dismiss charges against Mexican gynecologist
Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain on the grounds that the
doctor was illegally abducted from his Guadalajara office in
April and turned over to US authorities. TO BE
INFORMED OF THE NATURE AND CAUSE OF THE
ACCUSATION: Steve Jackson Games, nearly put out of
business by the raid described previously, has been
stonewalled by the SS. “For the past month or so these guys
have been insisting the book wasn’t the target of the raid, but
they don’t say what the target was, or why they were critical
of the book, or why they won’t give it back,” Steve Jackson
says. “They have repeatedly denied we’re targets but don’t
explain why we’ve been made victims.” Attorneys for SJG
tried to find out the basis for the search warrant that led to
the raid on SJG. But the application for that warrant was
sealed by order of the court and remained sealed at last
report, in July. Not only has the SS taken property and
nearly destroyed a publisher, it will not even explain the
nature and cause of the accusations that led to the raid. TO
BE CONFRONTED WITH THE WITNESSES
AGAINST HIM: The courts are beginning to play fast and
loose with the right to confront witnesses. Watch out for
anonymous witnesses and videotaped testimony. TO HAVE
COMPULSORY PROCESS FOR OBTAINING
WITNESSES: Ronald Reagan resisted submitting to
subpoena and answering questions about Irangate, claiming
matters of national security and executive privilege. A judge
had to dismiss some charges against Irangate participants
because the government refused to provide information
subpoenaed by the defendants. And one wonders if the
government would go to the same lengths to obtain
witnesses for Manuel Noriega as it did to capture him. TO
HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL: The right to
assistance of counsel took a hit recently. Connecticut Judge
Joseph Sylvester is refusing to assign public defenders to
people ACCUSED of drug-related crimes, including drunk
driving. TO HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL:
RICO is also affecting the right to have the assistance of
counsel. The government confiscates the money of an
accused person, which leaves them unable to hire attorneys.
The IRS has served summonses nationwide to defense
attorneys, demanding the names of clients who paid cash for
fees exceeding $10,000. Amendment VII In Suits at
common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved,
and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in
any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of
common law. RIGHT OF TRIAL BY JURY IN SUITS AT
COMMON LAW: This is a simple right; so far the
government has not felt threatened by it and has not made
attacks on it that I am aware of. This is our only remaining
safe haven in the Bill of Rights. Amendment VIII Excessive
bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. EXCESSIVE BAIL
AND FINES: Tallahatchie County in Mississippi charges ten
dollars a day to each person who spends time in the jail,
regardless of the length of stay or the outcome of their trial.
This means innocent people are forced to pay. Marvin Willis
was stuck in jail for 90 days trying to raise $2,500 bail on an
assault charge. But after he made that bail, he was kept
imprisoned because he could not pay the $900 rent
Tallahatchie demanded. Nine former inmates are suing the
county for this practice. CRUEL AND UNUSUAL
PUNISHMENTS: House Resolution 4079 sticks its nose in
here too: “… a Federal court shall not hold prison or jail
crowding unconstitutional under the eighth amendment
except to the extent that an individual plaintiff inmate proves
that the crowding causes the infliction of cruel and unusual
punishment of that inmate.” CRUEL AND UNUSUAL
PUNISHMENTS: A life sentence for selling a quarter of a
gram of cocaine for $20 — that is what Ricky Isom was
sentenced to in February in Cobb County, Georgia. It was
Isom’s second conviction in two years, and state law
imposes a mandatory sentence. Even the judge pronouncing
the sentence thinks it is cruel; Judge Tom Cauthorn
expressed grave reservations before sentencing Isom and
Douglas Rucks (convicted of selling 3.5 grams of cocaine in
a separate but similar case). Judge Cauthorn called the
sentences “Draconian.” Amendment IX The enumeration in
the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to
deny or disparage others retained by the people. OTHER
RIGHTS RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE: This amendment
is so weak today that I will ask not what infringements there
are on it but rather what exercise of it exists at all? What law
can you appeal to a court to find you not guilty of violating
because the law denies a right retained by you? Amendment
X The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved
to the States respectively, or to the people. POWERS
RESERVED TO THE STATES OR THE PEOPLE: This
amendment is also weak, although it is not so nonexistent as
the ninth amendment. But few states set their own speed
limits or drinking age limits. Today, we mostly think of this
country as the — singular — United States, rather than a
collection of states. This concentration of power detaches
laws from the desires of people — and even of states. House
Resolution 4079 crops up again here — it uses financial
incentives to get states to set specific penalties for certain
crimes. Making their own laws certainly must be considered
a right of the states, and this right is being infringed upon.
Out of ten amendments, nine are under attack, most of them
under multiple attacks of different natures, and some of them
under a barrage. If this much of the Bill of Rights is
threatened, how can you be sure your rights are safe? A
right has to be there when you need it. Like insurance, you
cannot afford to wait until you need it and then set about
procuring it or ensuring it is available. Assurance must be
made in advance. The bottom line here is that your rights are
not safe. You do not know when one of your rights will be
violated. A number of rights protect accused persons, and
you may think it is not important to protect the rights of
criminals. But if a right is not there for people accused of
crimes, it will not be there when you need it. With the Bill of
Rights in the sad condition described above, nobody can be
confident they will be able to exercise the rights to which
they are justly entitled. To preserve our rights for ourselves
in the future, we must defend them for everybody today.