A TILTED GUIDE TO BEING A DEFENDANT the tilted scales collective combustion books A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant Copyright 2017 The Tilted Scales Collective tiltedscalescollective.org Published by Combustion Books combustionbooks.org ISBN: 978-1-938660-18-4 This work is protected by the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. You are free to make copies or distribute it so long as you attribute the author, do not make derivative works, nor distribute it commercially. Version 1.1 For our imprisoned comrades in struggle who have joined the ancestors CONTENTS 3 Acknowledgments 7 About Tilted Scales Collective 9 Introduction 15 Chapter 1 On Being a Defendant Never Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand . . . . . . . . . . .21 Know Your Rights—And Use Them! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Going to Court for Your First Hearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Talking About Your Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Talking to Loved Ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 A Word on Media and Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 39 Chapter 2 Setting and Balancing Personal, Political, and Legal Goals Personal Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Political Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Legal Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Balancing Your Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Working with Others to Achieve Your Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 83 Chapter 3 Common Legal Situations Some General Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Grand Juries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 Surveillance and Infiltration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Conspiracy Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 Entrapment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Terrorism Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 A Parting Reminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 109 Chapter 4 Working with Your Lawyer Hurry Up and Wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Finding an Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Building a Healthy Relationship with Your Attorney . . . . .128 135 Chapter 5 Working with Your Codefendants General Considerations for Working with Your Codefendants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136 If All of You are in Custody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 If Some of You are in Custody and Others are Not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 If None of You are in Custody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Non-Association Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147 When Codefendants Flip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148 153 Chapter 6 Working with Your Defense Committee Common Roles a Defense Committee Plays . . . . . . . . . . . .155 Some Considerations for Working with Your Defense Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Potential Liabilities of Having a Defense Committee . . . . .169 173 Chapter 7 Working with the Media Some Basic Truths about the Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174 Engaging the Media as Radicals and Revolutionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Strategic Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Media Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189 Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Special Considerations for Criminal Charges . . . . . . . . . . 203 213 Chapter 8 Resolving Your Case A Conspiracy against Defendants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Preparing to Resolve Your Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218 Going to Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221 Negotiating a Plea Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Sentencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 253 Chapter 9 Surviving in Prison General Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254 Staying True to You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264 Political Development in Prison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266 Staying Connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Weathering Appeals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271 Dealing with Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275 Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 279 Conclusion 281 Appendix A The Criminal Legal Process 1 . Grand Jury/Preliminary Hearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281 2 . Arraignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .282 3 . Bail Hearing(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .282 4 . Pre-trial Motion Hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284 5 . Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285