LifeNet

The complete story: Notre Dame dismisses charges against the "ND 88"

The criminal trespass charges against the people protesting President Obama being honored at ND, with the May 17th two year anniversary approaching.

Here is the statement of Tom Dixon, who was the local South Bend lawyer involved for the defendants, who included five (three women, two men) from the NY area.

Dear Clients:

It is with gushing joy that I report that at 4:40 this afternoon, all of your cases, all of the ND 88 criminal cases, were dismissed!  Praise Our Savior and His Mother!

For your records, I'm attaching a copy of the final agreement with ND, which added a subparagraph (h) to paragraph 6, to allow for faxed and emailed signatures.  I am also attaching a copy of what is called the Minute Sheet or CCS entry, which is the Prosecutor's short form dismissal, signed by Chief Judge Scopelitis.  The Prosecutor will file individual dismissals for each of your cases in the near future, and when I receive those, I will send them to you as well.

Our work is done.  Special thanks to, and blessings be upon, The Thomas More Society (Tom Brejcha and Peter Breen) and upon the American Catholic Lawyers Association (Chris Ferrara, Michael Hirsh and Denis Brenan), and upon my former law professor and mentor Charlie Rice, for their unceasing support and dedication to this matter and to our cause.

May God Bless you all.

In Christ,

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Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller of Citizens for a Prolife Society (who was arrested at Notre Dame) has an excellent posting, giving the background -

Charges Dropped Against Notre Dame 88!

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This is the Press Release of the Thomas More Society -

Thomas More Society’s Relentless Legal Pursuit Wins Justice for Pro-Life Activists at Notre Dame

Charges Dropped Against Anti-Abortion Protesters at University’s Commencement with President Obama  
May 5, 2011 (Chicago)… Today, Michael Dvorak, St. Joseph County, Indiana prosecutor, dismissed the criminal trespass charges that he has pressed over the last two years against all of the pro-life protesters, known as the “ND88,” the individuals arrested for trespassing when they entered upon Notre Dame’s campus in peaceful and prayerful protest against the University’s bestowing honors on President Barack Obama at the 2009 Commencement.  Dvorak dropped the charges as part of an agreement between the Thomas More Society and the University.

“This is a big step forward and a victory for the pro-life cause,” said Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society and a 1965 Notre Dame graduate.  “We are appreciative of the steps that Notre Dame has taken, including successive visits by University President John Jenkins, C.S.C., and other campus leaders to the March for Life in Washington, D.C., both in 2010 and 2011, to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the creation of new and significant pro-life initiatives on campus. Those who share pro-life convictions may differ on tactics and approaches, but they best serve their sacred cause when they work together to secure the common good for all human beings, born and unborn alike, rather than carrying on as courtroom antagonists.”

Tom Dixon, South Bend, Indiana attorney and Thomas More Society special counsel, had led the defense over the last two years, during which the parties engaged in vigorous litigation, including extensive discovery proceedings.

The parties remain in profound disagreement over the 2009 Commencement, but after prayerful consideration they have decided to put their differences behind them, to cease battling in court, and rather to affirm a commitment to the fundamental proposition that each and every human life is sacred, from conception until natural death, no matter whether rich or poor, humble or exalted, wanted or “unwanted.”

Moreover, both parties have pledged not to rehash the events of the past, but on the contrary, to recognize each other’s pro-life efforts and to work together to find ways to increase those efforts and maximize their impact on the nation’s contentious, ongoing debate over abortion policy.

Read the entire Notre Dame Agreement here

For more information or to speak with an attorney at the Thomas More Society, please contact Tom Ciesielka at 312-422-1333 or [email protected]

For a reminder of some of the happenings two years ago, go here - From Notre Dame, the day before the commencement - in pictures 

One year later; Notre Dame, the President, and the 88 arrested demonstrators

May 17th was the first anniversary of the President's speech and honoring at Notre Dame.

This comprehensive article is being widely circulated online.

 
  

New Chapter In Notre Dame Controversy

By Ann Carey (Our Sunday Visitor: May 16, 2010)

Judge to hear arrested pro-lifers’ allegations of ‘viewpoint discrimination’

A year after the University of Notre Dame’s controversial conferral of an honorary degree on pro-choice President Barack Obama, 88 pro-lifers arrested for trespassing when they came on campus to protest still face charges, despite pleas from the defendants, alumni and pro-life groups to the university to ask the prosecutor to drop the case.

Pressure on the university is increasing. The judge in the case ruled last month that the defendants can gather information from Notre Dame about why campus police arrested the pro-life demonstrators, but allowed pro-Obama and pro-choice demonstrators free movement. The previous judge assigned to the case had issued a stay order on discovery, but eventually recused herself after the defense argued possible bias, given that she is married to a longtime Notre Dame professor who has been outspokenly pro-choice.

Upping the ante, a local newspaper, the South Bend Tribune, reported earlier this month that its investigation of the defense’s allegation of bias did show “variations in how some protesters were handled at the university.”

Different Treatment

A day before the article appeared in print, Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, issued a 670-word statement defending the university’s actions in the case, reiterating its pro-life commitment, and calling the prosecutor’s actions against the protesters, known as the ND 88, “balanced and lenient.” He noted that some other pro-life protesters arrested around the commencement simply pleaded out and paid a small fee to cover court costs.

Thomas Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm representing the ND 88, said the lifting of the stay on discovery is “very significant,” because he hopes it will produce evidence that Notre Dame engaged in “viewpoint discrimination” and singled out the ND 88 “for especially harsh treatment.”

Lead defense attorney Thomas Dixon explained that because the Notre Dame Security Police has full police powers in the state of Indiana, the police are in effect “state actors” when making arrests. Since those police are agents of the university, that makes Notre Dame subject to anti-discrimination laws, he said. Thus Dixon contends that Notre Dame violated his clients’ constitutional rights by arresting them but not other people demonstrating on campus at the same time.

The notice of deposition asked Notre Dame to respond to questions about who directed the campus police to arrest the pro-life protesters, and it asked for all communications on the case between Notre Dame and local civil authorities. The notice also sought information about some 2007 demonstrations in which gay rights and Catholic Worker demonstrators were arrested for trespassing at Notre Dame, but charges were not pursued.

‘Promising Upheaval’

The 2007 cases were investigated by the South Bend Tribune in its report. One Catholic Worker demonstrator was officially charged in 2007, but those charges were dropped. That person told the Tribune he spent one night in jail and was released the next day. Reporters interviewed one of six Soulforce demonstrators, who said the group was arrested by campus police and detained briefly before being driven to their hotel, and nothing further happened.

In his statement, Father Jenkins seemed to suggest that the pro-lifers arrested — who included a cassocked 88-year-old Catholic priest, former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, and Norma Corvey, the “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade — were particularly unruly, saying they “were led by individuals who threatened peace and order by promising upheaval on our campus.” But either way, he noted that the cases are in the county prosecutor’s hands, not the university’s.

Technically that’s true, said Charles Rice, a Notre Dame Law School professor emeritus and author of a book about the Notre Dame-Obama controversy, "What Happened To Notre Dame? (St. Augustine’s Press, $15). But Rice said if a complainant asks the prosecution to drop charges in a nonviolent case like this, there is “no way” the prosecutor would continue at the cost of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

“This has been the dumbest thing I’ve seen in 40 years at Notre Dame … to single out the pro-life guys for sanctions and leave the other guys alone,” Rice said.

The judge has ruled that after discovery is complete, he may convene an evidentiary hearing to decide whether to grant the defense’s motion for dismissal of the cases.