Girl Sent to Federal Prison for a Year and a Half for Refusing to Testify

Last night, Portland resident Leah-Lynn Plante spent the first of what could be a year and half's worth of nights in prison for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury about people she might know who might have been involved with the political vandalism on May Day.

Read the whole story here

What's scary is that she could be doing more time in prison for information that she may or may not know, than an ACTUAL criminal who ACTUALLY committed the said crime. Thoughts people?

Welcome to the future.

reply to post by ilikestarz


Intimidation or she has an exploitable skill that the Prison slave system wants to pay her $ .25 per hour to do.

Plante has not been charged with a crime—in fact, the court granted her immunity from prosecution, meaning she could not invoke her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent—but she could serve time until the expiration of this grand jury.

What? Did she waive her 5th amendment right to not self incriminate as a part of terms for immunity? That doesn't make any sense.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood, if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be like tomorrow.

– James Madison

reply to post by ilikestarz


Well she certainly looks like a massive "homeland security" threat - especially with that guard dog - how vicious does it look, I'm glad they sent so many DHS operatives just in case



[end sarcasm]

And what is her crime, oh yeah - having knowledge about

damaging a door of a federal courthouse

A punishment certainly worthy of the crime [end more sarcasm]

Pathetic - hidden agenda much!!!

I'm hoping we can name and shame all of the people involved.
Didn't they circumvent the constitution to pull that off?

We need to start making this personal. They are just people with little self-created titles.
That girl does not deserve the horror of jail but I know of some people who do...

reply to post by ilikestarz

the more that i read on here about prison sentences in the usa ,the more i think that it is a savage county .

the usa imprisons more people than china and russia and the usa calls these countries brutal . !

usa 2,266,832 . china 1,640.000 . russia 741,600 .

Originally posted by yourmaker
I'm hoping we can name and shame all of the people involved.
Didn't they circumvent the constitution to pull that off?

We need to start making this personal. They are just people with little self-created titles.
That girl does not deserve the horror of jail but I know of some people who do...

We're lucky we even know her name, or that she even saw a Grand Jury. With the NDAA and Patriot Acts, she could have been swooped away in the cover of night to a political prison and questioned indefinitely without the benefit of a lawyer or any constitutional rights! A vote for Romney or Obama is a vote for more of this kind of thing. The people have to put a stop to this.

This girl is a hero for sticking to her guns! Everyone here needs to post this story to their FB and Twitter accounts, and everyone that hears about this should pray for the same type of commitment and tenacity that this girl has shown. If and when she gets out of prison, she should be invited to every talk show in the nation, and she should become the poster child for a new 3rd party Revolution to overturn the cumbersome laws and fear-mongering government.

reply to post by ilikestarz


She is a young woman who is attractive; I am worried for her safety behind bars; plus I get the impression that she is somewhat naive an gullible. Unfortunately she may be abused; and that may be part of TPTB plan in order to get her to talk.

This whole situation is very upsetting and should not be happening. I hope she has good friends and family that will stand up for her.

reply to post by caladonea


How can you call her naive? They've played very sophisticated political games with her, such as extending the immunity specifically for the reason of taking away her Constitutional 5th amendment right (which they should be disbarred for doing), and yet she stands by her ideals. She doesn't seem naive at all. She is standing by her ideals and taking whatever consequences may come. She is a hero.

I worry about anyone going to prison, the abuse is rampant, but I admire her for her actions.

Originally posted by ilikestarz

Last night, Portland resident Leah-Lynn Plante spent the first of what could be a year and half's worth of nights in prison for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury about people she might know who might have been involved with the political vandalism on May Day.

Read the whole story here

What's scary is that she could be doing more time in prison for information that she may or may not know, than an ACTUAL criminal who ACTUALLY committed the said crime. Thoughts people?

edit on 12-10-2012 by ilikestarz because: (no reason given)

hey, she vandalized a door.....geez,.... it's not like she forclosed on millions of homes, cheated investors out of billions, outed CIA agent valerie plame....she needs to go to jail for along time.....

It's called being in contempt of court... She's stupid, especially that she is getting immunity...

When you don't comply with an order of the court you get punished...

Speak up or get locked up... Too bad so sad...

She's gonna make some great fresh meat in jail!

Originally posted by memarf1
reply to post by caladonea

 

How can you call her naive? They've played very sophisticated political games with her, such as extending the immunity specifically for the reason of taking away her Constitutional 5th amendment right (which they should be disbarred for doing), and yet she stands by her ideals. She doesn't seem naive at all. She is standing by her ideals and taking whatever consequences may come. She is a hero.

I worry about anyone going to prison, the abuse is rampant, but I admire her for her actions.

To you she is a (hero) for keeping her mouth shut about people she knows committed a crime; interesting.

Well, it's a hell of a way to learn the lesson...but she's learning it alright.

The United States gives the absolute right to remain silent..........to prevent self incrimination and the offering of evidence against one's own interests. It DOES NOT grant the right to remain silent to cover and obstruct the pursuit of justice against criminal actions of OTHER PEOPLE. You can't sit there and sing 'Mary had a little lamb' over and over to block out the questions...as she figuratively did here...when it's regarding what you DID witness and can't even plausibly deny seeing or knowing about.

It's a shame....given who and what this is about. She even looks like a nice girl in the pictures.

...and honestly..I'm sitting here thinking.. If I were called today for something relating to last year's Occupy camp I volunteered in...would I do what she did or would I burn the people I called friends and who trusted me implicitly?

To stay honest..I did stop and think on this... Frankly, I'd do exactly what she did here. I'm thinking hard here..and I couldn't live with myself and within my own set of values to burn people who I'd only know these things about BECAUSE they placed their trust in me...


However.... I can also say..I wouldn't whine like a victim. If someone takes a stand and says No to burning their own people like she did...It's a martyrs stand for a martyrs cause. It's honorable to do....if it's not done while whining about the cost, IMO.

Originally posted by jimmyx

Originally posted by ilikestarz

Last night, Portland resident Leah-Lynn Plante spent the first of what could be a year and half's worth of nights in prison for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury about people she might know who might have been involved with the political vandalism on May Day.

Read the whole story here

What's scary is that she could be doing more time in prison for information that she may or may not know, than an ACTUAL criminal who ACTUALLY committed the said crime. Thoughts people?

edit on 12-10-2012 by ilikestarz because: (no reason given)

hey, she vandalized a door.....geez,.... it's not like she forclosed on millions of homes, cheated investors out of billions, outed CIA agent valerie plame....she needs to go to jail for along time.....

Actually there is no evidence that she did anything illegal. Here's my thread on the case;
www.abovetopsecret.com...

As it turn out, the grand jury convened two months before the vandalism. So It's not even about the courthouse door.

A link to her blog;leahxvx.tumblr.com...

reply to post by ilikestarz

The system has become, she said, "a constitutional bypass around the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, allowing the government access to evidence they wouldn't otherwise have." It is also a useful tool to intimidate people, she said, creating a chilling effect on political activism. If simply knowing someone who might be suspected of political vandalism puts you at risk of a subpoena, a federal judge deciding some of your rights no longer apply, and 18 months in jail, it gives you a strong disincentive to associate with such people.

(from your link)

Here's the heart of the issue in my opinion. 'It is a useful tool to intimidate people' - 'creating a chilling effect on political activism'...

SUBMIT! OBEY!

If you read the complete article you'll see the actual vandal - who did not hesitate to plead guilty? He served his time - a pittance compared to this girl who wasn't even there when the 'crime' was committed.

What else needs to be said. It's precedents being set against the people by TPTB - to intimidate, to compel into fear and silence.

Is she a heroine? You bet.

*Something else interesting I'm going to look into. The SeaTac Federal Detention Facility. Wow. Ok so that might not be such a big deal to anyone else but it's freaky to me - I grew up in Seattle. I never thought... Well, so much for what I 'never thought' - I should have. ANY 'town' is subject to house a facility like this one. Any town.

peace

reply to post by caladonea


She may or may not have the information. The crime is vandalism and should be a misdemeanor. The US shouldn't have such a thing as a "politically motivated crime" and it shouldn't carry any different penalty than if my garage gets tagged by teenagers. Do you think they would convene a Grand Jury and detain the kids in my neighborhood indefinitely over some vandalism to my garage?

Yes she is a hero for standing up to the giant government machine. I don't agree with the crime, but I definitely agree with exercising our rights as citizens to refuse to participate in the trial or investigation. Martha Stewart went to Federal Prison for lying to investigators! Not insider trading, because they couldn't prove that, but just lying. But police lie everyday to potential criminals and witnesses and coerce confessions under false pretenses.

Yes, she is a hero, because she didn't cave in on her ideals no matter how big and bad big brother can get.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


But the prosecution know that she didn't witness the crime... and they caught the vandal who was sentenced to 40 days ... this is a fishing expedition

reply to post by memarf1


As a matter of fact...My car was keyed by some neighborhood punks a few years back. I saw them do it and it went to court. No grand jury...only because they weren't that foolish to deny guilt. However, the prosecutor WAS set to go all the way to jury trial if need be, and small stuff like that DOES go to Jury here if the defendant really wants to piss off 12 average people that badly over petty crime...then ask them to judge it. It rarely ends well for the guy who pushes a misdemeanor all the way to that level.

The point is though.....That was $1,500 in damage to my car. Vandalism SOUNDS all harmless until it's your car, your business or your property being destroyed by it. The crime was enough to rate the Grand Jury and thats all it comes to here. She could have testified...chose not to..and CHOSE the consequences that come with that.

A thing to respect, if done by choice and in strength of conviction. If she wants to whine like a victim..then it wasn't much more than playing a foolish little game and losing.