After several days of nerve wracking suspense and 19 years of incarceration
NORMA JEAN CROY IS FREE. We officially received word at 8:30 AM this
morning from the Norma Jean Croy Defense Committee, San Francisco, CA that
Norma Jean Croy was FREED today at 1:30PM (PST). Her lawyer and several of
her supporters met her at the Chowchilla, CA prison to pick her up.
Congratulations to Norma Jean and the Defense Committee for enduring almost
2 decades of stress, endless paper work, bureacracy, fundraising, public
awareness, and injustice - all to get to this defining moment in history.
We honor your hard work and fortitude, because this is one of the few
instances of justice for Indigneous peoples - thank you for all your
incredible work and strong spirit!
I am including a quick synopsis (see below) by Jan Herzog of the Norma Jean
Croy Defense Committee sent to us yesterday, in lieu of an official press
release to be posted at a later date. Everyone is very excited - the
Defense Committee has worked for 19 years to seek justice for Norma Jean
Croy.
To find out more about Norma Jean Croy's case, please go to the Norma Jean
Croy Defense Committee's website at:
http://www.teleport.com/~amt/planetpeace/norma/
In the Spirit of Friendship,
Andrea
Web-Diva, Planet Peace
Here's a quick synopsis.
We've been trying to seek justice in the federal courts and were to the point
of getting an evidentiary hearing last summer to see if she had been given a
fair trial in the first place.
Then Clinton signed the anti-terrorism bill and the attorney general raised
the issue in court so her case ground to a halt. Our lawyers yelled at the
attorney general and for some reason he capitulated and said that he would
sign a stipulation to withdraw the issue of the anti-terrorism bill if Norma
Jean would agree to not have an evidentiary hearing but instead allow the
magistrate judge to decide the issue based only on the papers submitted.
Eventually this is exactly what happened and in November there was a phone
status conference with Norma Jean's lawyers, the attorney general and the
magistrate judge. At that time the judge said he didn't need to see any more
papers and that he was willing to sign an order saying that her convictions
were to be overturned based on the issues such as that she had poor counsel
at her first trial, there was evidence that was never submitted, etc. We
were ecstatic.
By December 4th the magistrate Judge and the senior Judge had signed the
order. Then it was just a waiting game. The attorney general had 30 days
(until January 6th) to decide that he was going to go back on his word and
the district attorney in Siskiyou County had 60 days (until February 3rd) to
decide if they wanted to retry Norma Jean.
Well those days have come and gone and today the DA faxed Norma Jean's lawyer
a letter saying that he did not intend to retry her. So now she is a free
woman trapped in the bureacracy of the Board of Prison Terms in California.
We are trying to wrestle her from their grip. There is a chance that we
will be getting her tomorrow or Friday.
I just wanted you to know.
Peace and In a successful struggle - Jan Herzog
Norma Jean Croy Defense Committee
Norma Jean Croy Defense Committee
Pier 5
San Francisco, CA 94111
415/986-5591
Andrea M. Thein Indigenous Community Internet Project
Director, Planet Peace http://www.teleport.com/~amt/planetpeace/
email: amt@teleport.com PO Box 487, Ashland, OR 97520 541-858-6485
I must fight with all my strength so that the little positive things
that my health allows me to do might be pointed towards helping the
Revolution, the only real reason for living. --Frida Kahlo