Eric King’s Trial Begins; Report from Day One

Report on the start of Eric King’s trial from the Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) Federation. For ongoing updates, following Unicorn Riot on social media.

Judge Martinez opened the proceedings and addressed the jury pool solemnly explaining, “Our system cannot survive without jurors!” From there, both the Government and Defense whittled down the pool to the appropriate 12 and the alternate. Some highlights or low-lights of the process were one woman being excused because she was prejudiced against Mr. King solely based on the fact he was a prisoner. Another juror’s father had been brutalized by the police and permanently disabled. They were both excused.

The State’s Opening Statement

The Government laid out its case, claiming Mr. King was completely not injured in the storage closet exchange. Their evidence of this was a photograph of Mr. King taken moments after Wilcox struck Eric. This was immediately countered by the defense showing a photograph of Mr. King with a very clear black eye taken two days later. They then attempted to maximize Lt. Wilcox’s injuries by describing his blood stained shirt in dramatic fashion.

Ms. Regan’s Opening Statement

Attorney Lauren Regan began the defense by explaining that Mr. King has been wrongly accused of a crime he did not do, further explaining he was defending himself from an unjust attack by Lt. Wilcox who had walked him into a broom closet for an ‘attitude adjustment’. Ms. Regan further explained that the blurry pictures the government will try to pass off as evidence are indicative of the intentionally obfuscated true facts of the case.

Poignant quotes from Lauren Regan’s Opening Statement:

“Nothing legitimate happens between a prisoner and a guard in a storage closet.”

“The evidence will show that Mr. Wilcox chose to create this situation. Without visibility, there is no accountability!”

Lt. Wilcox’s Testimony

The Government opened their case with a direct examination of Lt. Wilcox. Wilcox was nervous and uncomfortable, pausing for laughter at strange moments in his testimony. From the Governments line of questioning it was clear they’ll be basing their case upon the fact the storage closet is really a Lt.’s Office, and that Eric was ‘extremely agitated’ upon arrival in the LT.’s hall. Wilcox’s testimony came across as weak and heavily coached. Wilcox claimed the storage closet was a ‘transitory office’. Again it was clear that statement had been coached and rehearsed.

The 2nd day of Eric King’s trial starts Tuesday morning at 8:45am. The public access telephone number is: 877-336-1828. Enter access code 9449909#

The Civil Liberties Defense Center is representing Eric pro-bono & there are significant costs associated with bringing a case to trial. Please donate at https://cldc.org/donate/ and put ‘For Eric King Legal Defense’ in the notes.

by Anarchist Black Cross Federation via It's Going Down