Fired Acorn workers plan to file criminal complaint against creators of controversial videos

[sabrina 1]

This is a criminal complaint. A civil suit is also planned by ACORN in MD as earlier reported.


http://www.investigativevoice.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1243:news-flash-acorn-plans-to-file-civil-suit-criminal-complaint-against-creators-of-controversial-videos&catid=25:the-project&Itemid=44

Acorn Workers to file Criminal Complaint against creators of video tapes

Former employees of the beleaguered community activist group ACORN are planning to file a criminal complaint in Baltimore against the creators of the series of videos that have spurred outrage against the organization, sources have told Investigative Voice.

The filing could come as soon as Friday afternoon, sources said.

snip ...

The criminal complaints will be filed by the same two employees of Baltimore’s ACORN office shown in the first video O'Keefe and Giles released.

Maryland’s “Wiretap Act” prohibits making an audio recording of a person without their consent.

The law states that it is illegal to “willfully intercept, endeavor to intercept, or procure any other person to intercept any wire, oral, or electronic communications.” The law bars distribution of any illegally obtained recordings, a part of the statute ACORN lawyers plan to use to enjoin the videos from being distributed further.

Once a person files a criminal complaint, it is up to prosecutors to decide if charges can go forward.

Baltimore State's Attorney made a statement regarding possible charges against Giles and O'Keefe. I've posted this before, but for anyone who has not seen it, here it is again:

STATEMENT OF STATE’S ATTORNEYS OFFICE FOR BALTIMORE CITY RELATIVE TO THE ALLEGED BALTIMORE ACORN INCIDENT

Baltimore, MD – September 11, 2009 – We have received inquiries from citizens and the media asking whether the Baltimore City State’s Attorneys Office would initiate a criminal investigation for acts allegedly committed at ACORN offices located in Baltimore. The only information received in reference to this alleged criminal behavior was a YouTube video. Upon review by this office, the video appears to be incomplete. In addition, the audio portion could possibly have been obtained in violation of Maryland Law, Annotated Code of Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article §10-402, which requires two party consent.

If it is determined that the audio portion now being heard on YouTube was illegally obtained, it is also illegal under Maryland Law to willfully use or willfully disclose the content of said audio. The penalty for the unlawful interception, disclosure or use of it is a felony punishable up to 5 years.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy can be reached by email: [e-mail]
or by phone [phone] or 443-984-1121

And since California also has a two person consent law, ACORN has stated it is considering a similar suit in that state:

Acorn circles the wagons

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-acorn24-2009sep24,0,3168854.story



Debora and Tommy Beard, foreground, and Daniel Leary belong to ACORN in Los Angeles. The Beards say the organization helped them avoid foreclosure. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times / September 23, 2009)

Aside from those gestures, ACORN has not appeared particularly contrite. Instead, it has come out swinging.

Lewis released a statement blaming the House's decision to cut funding on "a multiyear political assault stemming variously from the Bush White House, Fox News and other conservative quarters."

And on Wednesday, ACORN filed a lawsuit against James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles in Baltimore, saying the audio portion of the video the pair made at ACORN's office there was obtained illegally. (ACORN officials in California say they are considering a similar suit.) Maryland and California require two-party consent to create sound recordings.

Now, I hope that ACORN worker Juan Carlos Vera files both a criminal complaint and a civil suit, as it is pretty clear that he of all those filmed, was cynically and wrongfully smeared and that he did report the incident to police, now verified.

Coming out swinging is what ACORN normally does. If only Congress would get some spine and just once, do the right thing.

[BlueCaliDem]

1. GO ACORN! Now *this* is a true Democratic group!

This is how most people thought the Democratic Party was - until they got the majorities in both House and Senate and, except for a few strong Democrats, basically stuck out their hands for corporate cash (one of the many perks of being the majority party) and after that, immediately threw them up with a "b-b-b-but the repubs won't play nice!"

I love ACORN and I love Bertha Lewis!

Go get 'em, ACORN! }(

[sabrina 1]

5. This IS the way to handle these smear merchants. Dems

have been caving into this element for so long, they have no clue how to respond to their dirty tricks. Bullies need to be confronted and I'm trying to think of one time when Dems have confronted these people who with each 'victory' become more bold. They are poisoning the political discourse and it's time to start setting standards of what is acceptable and what is not. But giving them credibility of any kind, is not the way to go.

And yes! Go Acorn! Hit them with multiple complaints and lawsuits. O'Keefe has a lot to hide, such as the raw footage he altered to create 'news' like a good little student of the Leadership Institute.

[rurallib]

2. Lordy, I hope they sue.

[Trocadero]

3. good.

[MagickMuffin]

4. Go Go Get em Get em UMP AHHHHHH

Teach these Scumbags a lesson or two.

[sabrina 1]

7. Breitbart's hate-filled rage about Sen. Kennedy after

hearing of his death on Twitter, makes it doubly outrageous that any News outlet would allow him on the air, and yet, he has appeared on Fox, and writes for the Moonie Times.



http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/26/breitbart-kennedy-twitter/

Andrew Breitbart unleashes a torrent of invective against Sen. Ted Kennedy's legacy on twitter

Early this morning, news broke that Sen. Ted Kennedy had passed away after serving in the U.S. Senate for nearly 50 years. Soon after, conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart began a sustained assault on Kennedy’s memory, tweeting “Rest in Chappaquiddick.”

Over the course of the next three hours, Breitbart unapologetically attacked Kennedy, calling him a “villain,” “a big ass motherf@#$er,” a “duplicitous bastard” and a “prick.” “I’ll shut my mouth for Carter. That’s just politics. Kennedy was a special pile of human excrement,” wrote Breitbart in one tweet.

I am so glad he is named in the lawsuit and the criminal complaint. He is not fit to wipe Sen. Kennedy's shoes.

[mzmolly]

25. My, he sounds like an upstanding, honest guy.

:sarcasm:

[sabrina 1]

28. Lol, yes well, I'm gathering information on this guy

He's a Rush/Drudge wannabe but he makes the two of them look men of integrity! He imitates Limbaugh's trick of claiming that he is thrilled when he is critized. They are so warped in their thinking, to the point where I think their minds are not quite right. Being dishonest to achieve an end, is the way to go, as far as they are concerned.

He should be exposed for the dishonest, low intellect he is. He has claimed that he got involved in this stunt, 'to protect these adorable, innocent young people from the liberal press'. You can tell he's lying ~ and he says it wasn't just about ACORN, but about Katie Couric and he names a whole list of MSM news people that he wanted to 'force' to tell the truth about ACORN. What a jerk he is.

I hope they are working on thoroughly exposing him. But I know that the MSM, like the Dems instead of using their power to wipe the floor with these people, often get intimidated by their rhetoric and end up trying to please them. I hope that doesn't happen this time.

This battle with ACORN and the right has been going on for a long time, I think this could be climax of that fight, and the more support ACORN starts to get, the worse it will be for those puny little minds that contribute nothing but hatred to the political dialogue.

[Joanne98]

6. YAY

[glitch]

8. Good. I hope they include the financial backers in the suit as well.

Cha-ching. :applause:

[sabrina 1]

11. I hope so, two have been named so far

Morton Blackwell and Thiel. But both have claimed they did not fund O'Keefe/Giles' stunt. Thiel says he only heard about after the videos on utube. Blackwell says he stopped funding O'Keefe because his activities would not be in line with the Leadership Institute's tax exempt status.

O'Keefe meanwhile claimed on his now scrubbed blog, that he was given a $4000.00 monitor by the LI for his 'work'! No wonder he scrubbed his blog. I hope that can all be retrieved.

So, yes, it should be interesting to see how O'Keefe explains away the lies he's been telling, and to watch Blackwell publicly disown one of his 'star' pupils.

And, for the record, O'Keefe also claims to be 'completely independent' ~ so a lot of contradictions to be sorted out.

[glitch]

13. This is going to be the gift that keeps on giving...

first the congressional acts that roped in the defense contractors, now this! :toast:

[sabrina 1]

15. I think so ~ O'Keefe and Giles are all but missing in action

the proof of their lies was revealed a few days ago.

I just saw that they demanded a retraction from the NYT and the Post of words attributed to O'Keefe regarding his reason for going on this, what some see as, racist adventure.

He was quoted as saying:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/19/us/politics/AP-US-ACORNs-Troubles.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

James O'Keefe, one of the two filmmakers, said he went after ACORN because it registers minorities likely to vote against Republicans: ''Politicians are getting elected single-handedly due to this organization,'' O'Keefe told The Washington Post. ''No one was holding this organization accountable.''

The WAPO issued this correction:

Corrections fix misquote of ACORN filmmaker

washpost4This article about the community organizing group ACORN incorrectly said that a conservative journalist targeted the organization for hidden-camera videos partly because its voter-registration drives bring Latinos and African Americans to the polls. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O’Keefe, did not specifically mention them. Link

And this from AP:

In a Sept. 19 story about the community organizing group ACORN, The Associated Press, based on an account in The Washington Post, erroneously quoted a conservative journalist saying he targeted the organization for hidden-camera videos because its voter-registration drives bring minority voters to the polls.

The Washington Post on Tuesday printed a correction about the quote. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O’Keefe, did not specifically mention minorities, the newspaper said.

'Did not specifically say' ~ but they don't say what he did say. Legalese which is meaningless. but it shows that the charges of racism against them, is beginning to get to them. O'Keefe has been called a racist before, while in college and his 'stunts' all have a clear racist element to them.

But, I like to see them running for cover now. Funny how they act when there is a court date in their future. Cleaning up their past. I wonder how much they've erased already.

But there was no correction by the NYT of the lie told about ACORN being involved in voter fraud. I think someone needs to start calling them from our side.

[glitch]

21. It's lovely to see them scurrying for the cracks. And the NYT has sunk so low on so many stories

they need to seek professional help on any possible redemption.

[sabrina 1]

31. Yes, instead of doing a real story

on this, they write something nebulous and then apologize for it to the right.

You'd think they'd tape these conversations. He's a racist anyhow, his own words and actions have proven it, but it's fun to see that people pointing it out, gets to him.

I don't see anyone screaming at the press for constantly repeating the 'voter fraud' lies about ACORN.

[unblock]

9. this is the same law that tripped up linda tripp, iirc

[sabrina 1]

10. It is, but I think she was granted immunity, wasn't she?

The rightwing were outraged when they realized she might be prosecuted! Lol. I hope these characters tricky rightwing lawyers don't pull something like getting them immunity to testify against someone else, like whoever their funders are. What I'm hoping is that they will be pitted against each other, especially in the criminal cases, if they go forward. That could happen eg, if Morton Blackwell is implicated as a funder, as O'Keefe has already done. Blackwell does not want to be put in that position as his organization is tax-exempt so I imagine he would deny it and claim that O'Keefe diverted funds he had meant to go to something els.

This could be very entertaining.

[unblock]

17. i think it was just dropped.

i wasn't as concerned about the outcome there, just noting an interesting historical parallel.

[sabrina 1]

20. You're right, it was dropped.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1S1-9200005250430862.html

The chief state prosecutor of Marylanddecided today to drop criminal wiretap charges against Linda R. Tripp, the Pentagon employee whose secretly recorded conversations with Monica S. Lewinsky exposed an affair that led to President Clinton's impeachment. The prosecutor, Stephen F. Montanarelli, said it would be impossible to successfully pursue a trial, which was to begin on July 10, because a judge this month suppressed testimony by Ms. Lewinsky that, Mr. Montanarelli said, was crucial to obtaining a conviction.

[drm604]

12. K&R

:applause:

[Libertas1776]

14. GOOD!

I hope those little Jesus Camp punks get a big fat lawsuit on their heads.

[ddeclue]

16. BWA HA! ACORN to be funded by Right Wing Whack Jobs instead of Congress

After they win their lawsuits and take every dime the whack jobs have!

:rofl:

[Turborama]

18. Hannah Giles Tells Hannity About ACORN Lawsuit

Hannah Giles Tells Hannity About ACORN Lawsuit

Filmmaker Hannah Giles, who along with James O'Keefe, shot several undercover ACORN videos, talks to Sean Hannity about the lawsuit she and O'Keefe have received from ACORN for violating state law.

"I'm a 20-year-old girl being sued for $5 million... It's kind of silly," said Giles, who insisted that ACORN is "frightened". Her lawyer, Kelly Shackelford, adds that ACORN's "baseless lawsuit" is nothing more than "an attempt to bully a 20-year-old girl."

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0snDH-IdCY

"It's kind of silly". Well, you should have thought about that before you dressed up as a prostitute in an attempt to bring down ACORN, shouldn't you. :rofl:

ETA What is "silly" is this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x369241#369370">Posted 2 weeks ago on the videos forum:

Here he is interviewing the girl that says she set it all up and acted as the 'prostitute'. She seems to have got her lines wrong because she says she was jogging along one day and "saw an acorn" and said to herself "hmmm, I don't like them". BecKKK also introduces the video at the begining and lies that they were talking about 13 year old girls when his very own subtitles say that "there are 13 of them".

There's something very fishy about this interview and the truth needs to be found about who was really behind this entrapment. Considering his ongoing campaign to smear ACORN, it's quite possible that it's got BecKKK and/or one of his cohort's hoof prints on it somewhere along the line.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhUIoSBq4tw

She also says in that video that she funded the whole thing herself, yeah right.

Great work Sabrina, I'll PM you soon about the blog...

:kick: & R

[sabrina 1]

19. 'Bully a 20 year-old girl' Oh, boo-hoo!

When you break the law there are consequences no matter how old you are.

Thanks for that last link, Turborama. I did see another story where maybe her father, who is a 'colomnist' for Town Hall, claimed it was her idea. She supposedly knew O'Keefe from some online forum, and when she got this great idea, she called him. I'll have to look for that again, because O'Keefe may have been the story-teller. He supposedly said 'I got out my grandfather's old hat, and his mother's fur coat, and they were on their way. There was nothing about her seeing an acorn in that story.

More and more, I believe there is someone else behind this. I hope their bank accounts are subpoena'd, although the payments could have been cash.

It was definitely orchestrated between Fox, Breitbart and talk radio, the same way the Dan Rather trap was set and they were ready all synchronized to get the tapes out, one after the other.

I wonder if they can release any more, if they have any as I think ACORN filed an injunction against them doing so.

Now, I hope Juan Carlos files a civil suit and a criminal complaint. He is a very sympathetic character and his story demonstrates what liars they are.

Thanks again for the links ~ I think people should save these, as they may start scrubbing their earlier statements. Looking forward to info about the blog :-)

[mzmolly]

23. I agree. I hope ACORN's Cali. office will follow.

:hi:

[mzmolly]

22. My arse! These "kids" were chosen so they could play the victim card

if they were sued. They didn't think anyone would have the courage. Her story sounds like it's completely scripted/staged. She's not AT ALL convincing. For the record, I don't believe her jogging story. Remember Hannah, "THOU SHALT NOT LIE."

[Turborama]

26. Hi mzmolly

As I wrote in http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4073916&mesg_id=4074957">a reply to Sabrina earlier...

"to be able to keep on top of all this, I might start a blog or a Kos Diary in which we can all collate the results of our various routes of research if you guys are interested."

Would you be interested in collaborating with this? I'm going to contact Emit & bobbolink to see if they're interested too...

BTW I just added you as a "buddy" but your Journal appears to be turned off.

:hi:

[mzmolly]

27. I'm glad

to contribute in any way I can. :) Great idea on the journal!

[Turborama]

29. Great!

I'll get to work on setting it up and will create a new Gmail account for us all to use. I'll PM links & login details to you and our fellow researchers when I've got it up and running.

[bobbolink]

32. So, in their minds, they can bully poor folk, then when poor folk fight back, they claim *they* are

being bullied.

Gotta love that twisted logic...... this is deserving of a psychological workup. :evilgrin:

[sabrina 1]

35. Yes, they are classic bullies.

They are everything parents and teachers try to teach their children not to be. Arrogant cowards also. The problem is that people with the kind of personalities they have are being rounded up and trained by rightwing organizations, like Morton Blackwell's 'The Leadership Institute' and sent around the country to college campuses to 'fight liberals' but, mostly they are fighting the poor and minorities.

I think we've discovered the one thing that O'Keefe is threatened by. He does not want to be called a 'racist' as is evident in the scrubbing of his blog (too late) and his attempt to get the news media to erase the words attributed to him as his reason for going after ACORN, 'they register people to vote that he doesn't approve of'. Well, he doesn't need to list those people, we all know who ACORN helps ~ poor people and minorities. So, yes, there is every indication from both his words and actions, that O'Keefe is a racist. He has only himself to blame.

[Turborama]

38. ACORN Chief Executive: "We're Not Afraid" (of the bullies)

Excellent article posted in the editorials forum: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x484555

[Drix]

37. Let me get this straight....

She runs around dressing like a prostitute, talking like a prostitute, lying to people that she is a prostitute, then gets upset when bad things happen?

[Rex]

24. I hope those smarmy little Repuke asshats go to jail.

It would be cosmic irony to the Mth degree.

[sabrina 1]

30. 5 years is the max, I'd settle for that ~

Probably won't happen though, even if they deserve it. The whole rightwing screaming machine would start WW111 if they did. Love the way Giles is whining about being just a girl now, but her actions will prevent who knows how many poor young girls and women from getting the help they need.

These people have no sympathy or empathy for anyone.

[bobbolink]

33. I wouldn't settle, if it were up to me, which it isn't The damage and harm they did to poor folk

is worth much more than that.

To me, the lives of those poor people who were harmed are much more valuable.

[bobbolink]

34. This is what it takes,....for people who have been served by ACORN to start fighting back!

This is very encouraging!

Thanks for the post!

:pals:

[sabrina 1]

36. You're welcome, bobbolink

But they need support and it's encouraging to see that they may be beginning to get it.