11/14/08 - THE LATEST ON THE GRAPSKI PERSECUTION
From Grapski Defense <grapskidefense@gmail.com>
(Please note: The old website and email address are down, and the Nov 14, 2006 date under the heading is incorrect for this posting. This post was mistakenly published here on Nov 14, 2008, so the Comments attached to this Diary refer to the original 2006 post, not to this one.)
Charlie Grapski has been held in the Alachua County Jail WITHOUT BAIL since October 12. The information in the News Update (attached below) has been sent to supporters, local media, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Your help in spreading the word is appreciated.
Update on Charlie Grapski:
Charlie was finally able to speak with his court appointed attorney this week, and a hearing is now scheduled for November 19th at 1 pm. It is possible that a new bond with will set at that time.
GRIEVANCE FILED OVER JAIL CONDITIONS AND RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Charlie and 15 other inmates in his cell block have jointly signed and filed a formal grievance with the jail over lack of medical treatment, lack of access to counsel, poor food, and other issues. A copy of this grievance is being made available to the media and to civil rights organizations. Retaliatory measures have been taken against some of them since the grievance was filed.
One inmate has been held at the jail for 45 days without speaking with an attorney, and without any charges being filed by the state attorney. The jail is grossly overcrowded and the public defenders are overworked. Many poor inmates don't see an attorney for weeks, until the day of their hearing in court, when their only option to get out (whether innocent or guilty) is to plea bargain because every inmate without the funds to hire a private attorney knows that no legal defense will be prepared on their behalf, even if they are willing to sit in jail for months awaiting trial. Inmates can't do legal research, because they are allowed only one hour per week in the library, and books cannot be checked out.
Charlie has refused to cut a deal on the trumped up felony charges and is insisting on his right to a jury trial.
Visiting hours for Charlie Grapski are Thursdays 7-9 pm and Saturdays 12-2 pm (he's in Pod W #3).
Letters of concern and support can be sent to:
Judge Phyllis Rosier
Alachua County Criminal Justice Center
220 S. Main Street Room A303
Gainesville, FL 32601
(352) 374-3606 (Phone)
(352) 264-7010 (Fax)
State Attorney Bill Cervone
120 West University Avenue
Gainesville, Florida 32602
(352) 374-3670
cervonew@sao8.org
John M. Stokes (Charlie's court-appointed attorney)
20 S Main St
Gainesville, FL 32601
(352) 338-8410
The Gainesville Sun
Ron Cunningham (editor) ron.cunningham@gvillesun.com
Letters - Voice of the people voice@gvillesun.com
= = = = = = = =
NEWS UPDATE - NOVEMBER 8, 2008
For more information contact: grapskidefense@gmail.com
ACTIVIST CHARLES GRAPKSI HELD WITHOUT BOND IN ALACHUA COUNTY JAIL,
GRAPSKI SAYS HE IS BEING DENIED HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
AND BLACKMAILED INTO CUTTING A DEAL WITH PROSECUTOR
Gainesville, Florida --- Charles Grapski is being held without bond in the Alachua County Jail, where he has been incarcerated since his arrest on October 12 for two misdemeanor charges. Claiming he has been denied due process and the right to counsel, Grapski says his continued imprisonment constitutes political persecution by the state attorney's office.
"I'm being denied my constitutional rights, and it feels like I'm being blackmailed into cutting a deal," Grapski said, referring to his pending trial on 2007 felony charges. (See Background on 2007 Police Assault and False Arrest, attached below.)
Grapski insists he will not consider pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit, even if it means staying in jail, and he will fight for his right to a jury trial on the 2007 charges. "The misdemeanor charges should be dropped, and my original bond reinstated, since the complainant has told the prosecutor he doesn't wish to press charges, " he said.
Grapski has already spent a month behind bars for the trespassing and criminal mischief charges, which resulted from a late night misunderstanding at a friend's house following Florida Gators football team home game celebrations.
Grapski's bail on the October 12 misdemeanor charges was originally set for $100 for each charge, but before he could post bail a series of actions by a Circuit Court judge and a hostile prosecutor have kept him locked up, perhaps indefinitely.
Since the October 12 arrest, the person who filed the complaint has informed the State Attorney's office on several occasions that he does not wish to press charges against Grapski. Unfortunately for Grapski, the State Attorney's office appears to be using his continued incarceration without bond as a means of extracting a plea bargain on unrelated 2007 felony charges, which are pending trial.
The October 12 misdemeanor charges, rather than being dropped, were assigned to Geoffrey Fleck, the same prosecutor who is prosecuting Grapski's 2007 felony charges. Fleck also prosecuted a previous felony charge against Grapski, following another politically motivated and baseless arrest in 2006, also involving Alachua city officials. That charge was summarily dismissed by a Circuit Court judge only minutes before Grapski's jury trial was scheduled to begin, when the judge heard arguments on Grapski's Motion to Dismiss.
Grapski had posted a cash bond in August 2007 and was released pending trial on trumped up felony charges slapped on him by Chief Robert Jernigan of the Alachua Police Department, marking the third time Jernigan has been directly involved in politically motivated felony arrests of Grapski in Alachua.
Circuit Court Judge Phyllis Rosier raised Grapski's bond on the October 12 misdemeanors from $100 each to $5000 each. This was done without holding a bond hearing and without notifying the defendant. Also without a bond hearing, and without notifying Grapski or his bondholder (a friend had put up the cash), the judge then unilaterally revoked Grapski's cash bond on the 2007 charges, on the grounds that the misdemeanor arrest violated the conditions of his bond. Judge Rosier was the same judge who had originally set a bond of $60,000 for Grapski in the 2007 charges, before the bond was reduced to $1,500 by another judge.
Charles Grapski is still being held without bond on the 2007 charges, just as if he were a dangerous rapist or murderer. Since his 2007 bond was revoked several weeks ago, Grapski has been trying to get a bond hearing set, but without success. After being held virtually incommunicado and without contact with legal counsel for almost two weeks, Grapski finally spoke by telephone with John Stokes, his new court-appointed attorney, and requested that a bond hearing be set as soon as possible. Another state-appointed attorney assigned to his defense in the 2007 charges had recently resigned, citing a conflict of interest, and Stokes was new to the case.
Grapski reports that John Stokes told him that he had spoken with prosecutor Geoffrey Fleck, and he informed Grapski that a plea bargain arrangement had been discussed. According to Stokes, Fleck had offered a deal that would get him out of jail and "keep him out of prison." Grapski insisted he was innocent of the charges and told his attorney that he wanted his day in court.
Grapski claims that when he told Stokes he would not consider pleading guilty to a crime he didn't commit, his court-appointed attorney attorney became angry and hung up on him, saying he wouldn't be filing a motion for a bond hearing. As of November 8th, a bond hearing has not yet been set, and so far Grapski has not been able to speak again with Stokes. According to Grapski, Stokes turns out to be a personal friend of Alachua City Manager and Police Commissioner Clovis Watson (who has been involved in all three felony arrests), and has even represented Watson in legal matters.
Charles Grapski is currently locked in a jail cell and is being denied his basic constitutional rights, including his right to due process, his right to a bond hearing, and his right to prepare a competent defense.
Grapski is essentially being told that the way to get out of jail is to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit, thus sparing the state-appointed attorney the challenge of preparing a proper defense, and also sparing the State Attorney's office the embarrassment of having to prosecute the Alachua Police Department's trumped up felony charges before a jury of Grapski's peers.
Charles Grapski's friends and family are concerned for his health, and are seeking to expose the violation of his rights to counsel and due process. The immediate goal is to get him released once again on bond. Since it appears that his third court appointed attorney has a blatant conflict of interest (the first two resigned for that reason) and is clearly not willing to prepare a vigorous defense on his behalf, Grapski is in urgent need of a criminal defense attorney, preferably from outside Gainesville and the Eighth Judicial Circuit, where "good ole boy" politics prevails over justice and the rule of law.
To send a message to Grapski in jail, send an email to grapskidefense@gmail.com (It will be read to him over the phone) or mail it to the jail.
For more information see this week's High Springs Herald article (more HSH articles attached below):
Grapski continues to be held in jail without bond following October arrest
By Rachael Anne Ryals, Staff Writer
High Springs Herald | November 7, 2008
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
Important numbers:
Alachua County Jail 352-491-4460 http://www.alachuasheriff.org/
State Attorney's Office: 352-374-3670 http://sawww.co.alachua.fl.us/
Background on 2007 Police Assault and False Arrest
In August 2008, under the direction of Alachua City Manager/Police Commissioner Clovis Watson, Alachua Police Chief Robert Jernigan and other APD officers assaulted and arrested Charles Grapski when he attempted to file a formal complaint about Jernigan's misconduct at the Alachua Police Department.
Watson had been named as a defendant in several lawsuits against the City of Alachua, and Grapski had been the victim of two previous false arrests on felony charges by Watson and Jernigan, the first in May 2006 and the second in February 2007. The first was prosecuted and dismissed before trial, while the second was never prosecuted (it was held open for six months and then dropped by the State Attorney, only after the third false felony arrest in Alachua took place in August 2007).
Following the August 2007 assault and arrest of Grapski at the Alachua Police Department, he was taken to a hospital for medical treatment before being transported to the County Jail. Grapski was charged with trespassing, for going to a police station with a complaint during business hours, and with multiple felony counts of resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer. To add insult to injury, more felony charges were added at the jail when Grapski verbally declined to submit to a strip search order by a female guard. He was subsequently maced in the face and assaulted by guards while lying on the floor handcuffed (this incident took place in one of the few areas of the jail with no security cameras, of course).
In protest of his mistreatment, Grapski launched a hunger strike, and after suffering a collapse in his jail cell he was rushed in an ambulance to a regional hospital. After remaining unconscious for two days in an intensive care unit, he was eventually returned to the county jail and released on bond. He has been waiting over a year for his trial on the August 2007 felony charges.
>>>See the High Springs Herald articles below or search the Herald archives online for more background on Grapski's political arrests in Alachua and his mistreatment at the hands of Alachua officials:
First false arrest - May 1, 2006 (charges held open for six months, then prosecuted, resulting in dismissal)
High Springs Herald | May 4, 2006
State House candidate arrested in Alachua City Hall
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | May 18, 2006
With county official now involved, situation heats up in city of Alachua
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | June 15, 2006
Alachua accuses Grapski of again illegally taping a city employee
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | June 22, 2006
Alachua needs to investigate its elections, drop charges against me, Grapski
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | July 6, 2006
Except for his home, Grapski now banned from Alachua
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | October 12, 2006
State Attorney's Office decides to officially charge Grapski in incident involving Alachua city manager
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | November 22, 2006
Judge dismisses criminal wiretap charges against Grapski
By Ronald Dupont Jr., Herald Editor
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
Second false arrest - February 12, 2007(charges held open for six months, never prosecuted)
High Springs Herald | February 15, 2007
Grapski arrested yet again, this time carried out of Alachua city meeting
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | September 6, 2007
State Attorney's Office drops some charges against Grapski
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
Third false arrest - August 13, 2007 (charges still pending, Grapski's defense being compromised by denial of right to counsel and due process)
High Springs Herald | August 16, 2007
Grapski in jail on police battery charges
By Ronald Dupont Jr., Herald Editor
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | August 17, 2007
Grapski not eating, says he is being mistreated in jail
By Ronald Dupont Jr., Herald Editor
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | August 23, 2007
Ending a hunger strike: Grapski in hospital after second arrest
By Ronald Dupont Jr., Herald Editor
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | August 30, 2007
Alachua answers questions posed in lawsuits over city elections, issue of Watson having two titles
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
October 12, 2008 misdemeanor arrest
High Springs Herald | October 13, 2007
Grapski in jail after early morning incident
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
High Springs Herald | November 7, 2008
Grapski continues to be held in jail without bond following October arrest
http://www.highspringsherald.com/...
Search the High Springs Herald archives at www.highspringsherald.com for "grapski alachua" for more...