Bear Lincoln's preliminary hearing has been rescheduled to Dec. 13, 1995 at
1:30 pm in Municipal Court, first floor, Mendocino County Courthouse, Ukiah,
California. The courtroom is small, and seating will be limited. I believe
the case will be heard by a visiting judge.
This promises to be an interesting and crucial hearing. Both prosecution and
defense will present their cases, with each able to call live witnesses, to
question and cross-examine them, and to present physical evidence, and to
challenge evidence presented by the other side.
It's possible that the prosecutor may again go to a secret grand jury to
prevent the open hearing in muni court, so stay tuned. The first grand jury
indictment was just tossed out Nov. 30 because the prosecutor failed to
present evidence that might have favored Bear Lincoln. If the prosecutor
goes back to a grand jury, I'm sure he won't intentionally make that mistake
again.
There is a rule that says if charges are dismissed twice they can't be
brought a third time. However, there are exceptions to that rule for serious
cases, depending on whether the dismissal is due to willful misconduct by
the prosecution or just to incompetence or unintentional mistakes.
To those of you in the Northern California area, don't forget to plan to
attend the benefit concert by the great John Trudell and the Bad Dog Band
Saturday and Sunday Dec. 9 & 10 at Crown Hall, Mendocino, California. Doors
open at 6:30 pm and the show starts at 7:30. It will be a hot event! A
donation of $12 will be asked to benefit the Bear Lincoln Legal Defense Fund.
There will also be a Round Valley Justice Forum Sunday at the same location
from 2 - 5 pm. Admission to the forum is free. There will be speakers from
Round Valley in a public forum. Don't miss an opportunity to get together
with other supporters and learn the latest about what's happening. It will
be a high energy event! See you there.