Jon Lender at the Courant this morning has a piece about my lawsuit: "Activist Claims State Police Engaged in 'Political Spying' Online." Specifically, the story discusses e-mails I recovered from a variety of Freedom of Information Act requests I did in connection with the CT State Police and my arrest from January 3, 2007.

 

These e-mails show that the Connecticut State Police use fake e-mail adresses to monitor political activists, parties and protests. Lender and the Courant did not put the documents up online, and I'd like everyone to have an opportunity to read them and draw their own conclusions.

 

Of course, the last sentence is always the most important:

Krayeske, now a law student, also said Rell's chief of staff, M. Lisa Moody, forwarded to the state police governor's security detail an e-mail that a state employee had sent to her, in which Krayeske had advertised a civil rights rally on the steps of the Supreme Court Jan. 30, 2007, while his criminal case was still pending. Krayeske cited it as another indication of improper scrutiny of political activity. Rell's office declined comment on the allegation.

So, for your viewing pleasure, as posted above, I offer a few of the documents showing "eforpeace@hotmail.com" and the Lisa Moody e-mail (download it here).

For identification purposes, Lt. Greg Chelso was the head of the Governor's Security Unit in 2006. The eforpeace@hotmail.com on John DeStefano is first. I spoke with Gabriela Campos, Dan Piper and Mark Rutkowski, all members of the Central Connecticut State University Progressive Student Alliance, and none of them know an "Earl Williams," the name to whom the email is "registered."

 

For additional ID purposes, look at the names on Campos' post to the CCSU_PSA forum - Dave Pudlin, Evelyn Mantilla, David Blitz, Dave Ianno, Dan Piper, Dave McCluskey and Danny Strahanich. And, oh yeah, DeStefano's chief of staff, Shawn Matteson. Why do state police need to know what elected officials like McCluskey are up to?

 

Then one of Chelso's google blog alerts set to receive any blog posting saying "jodi rell" then is the Lisa Moody email to the state police.

I sent the email on January 26, 2007, and I bet many people here got a copy. I sent it to everyone in my email list, including Carol Wilson, a Department of Administrative Services employee who had previously shown interest the40yearplan.com.

 

Despite Wilson's comments "he just won't leave me alone," according to an FOIA request on her email inbox, the last time I had emailed her prior to January 26, 2007 was April 2006, and she responded positively about attending a forum I was hosting at La Paloma Sabanera.

Below is the entirity of the first FOIA request I did to the CT State Police, which shows the first "theseriousbrother@yahoo.com" e-mail (at page 32). The email address is blacked out because it is an investigatory technique not otherwise known. Download the entire .pdf here.

 

State Police E-mail spying on Activists

 

It has only taken almost three years, but tomorrow, I will have a day in court. I'm sending out a press release, and it reads like this:

 

Bridgeport, CT: On Friday, November, 6, 2009 at 2 p.m., at the federal district court in Bridgeport, judge Stephan Underhill will hear oral arguments on motions for summary judgment in Krayeske v. Hartford, the civil rights lawsuit filed by Ken Krayeske in the wake of his arrest and subsequent dismissal in 2007.

 

Krayeske is inviting persons interested in watching to attend the hearings. Krayeske filed the civil rights lawsuit against three Hartford police officers, two state cops and the city of Hartford for false arrest, false imprisonment, excessive bond and free spech violations on May 24, 2007.

 

"I've waited a long time for this day in court, and we haven't even reached the trial yet," Krayeske said.

 

Motions for summary judgment are part of the pre-trial process, and they test the factual sufficiency of a case. In writing the motions for summary judgment, the state police revealed that during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, they weren't just looking into the affairs of the Green Party, but peeking into other political activities, like those of Democratic gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano.

 

"It is beyond the pale that the state police cannot determine the difference between legitimate, constitutionally protected activities and those which pose a danger to the state," Krayeske said.

 

As it stands now, one defendant, Officer Jeffrey Antuna of the Hartford Police Department, did not even file a motion for summary judgement. So a trial will happen for at least one defendant, and perhaps more, depending upon how Underhill rules. A trial date for mid-2010 seems likely, Krayeske said.

 

The two state police officers (Sgt. Mark Cassista and Detective Pedro Rosado), the city of Hartford, and two Hartford cops (Andrew Weaver and Mack Hawkens) have filed to essentially dismiss the case brought by Krayeske. They all argue that the facts don't support his claims.

 

However, they all argue three different versions of the events.

 

There are enough opposing stories of what happened on January 3, 2007 at the inaugural parade of Gov. M. Jodi Rell as to justify a jury trial, Krayeske said.

 

"They all are trying to throw each other under the bus," Krayeske said. "Defending this lawsuit is an unfortunate waste of taxpayer dollars. Had Gov. M. Jodi Rell taken responsibility and come clean earlier in the process, the state wouldn't be wasting valuable resources shielding constitutional tortfeasors from liability."

 

Attorney Norman A. Pattis of Bethany will represent Krayeske before Judge Underhill. Underhill's clerk sent out a notice in September stating that he could rule from the bench, but Krayeske is expecting a decision to take more than 90 days to decide whether or not the defendants' arguments that the arrest were reasonable are bunk.

 

"This is a step along the way to justice," Krayeske said.

 

Attorney Stephen Sarnoski from Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's office is representing the two state police officers. Attorney Joseph McQuade of the Hartford law firm Kainen, Escalera and McHale is the counsel of record for Antuna, Hawkens and Weaver, while the city of Hartford's office of corporation counsel is defending the claims against the city.

 

For more information, please contact Ken Krayeske at ken_at_the40yearplan_dot_com.

A day in court, continued

Needed an ax to shatter the frozen lake within my soul the other night, and by chance, pulled The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956, off my bookshelf.

 

I've had Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn's paperback, a yellowing 1974 first edition (priced at $1.95), in my library for at least a decade. I don't even know where I got it, a tag sale or a second hand store or an aunt's attic. The story about Soviet concentration camps, first printed in 1973, always seemed important, but I never mustered the courage to open the two-inch thick opus.

 

For some reason, Monday night, I sought change, new experience to wake me up before I drifted to sleep. Solzhenitsyn cracked my ice mind. He called the first chapter: "Arrest."

Arrest! Need it be said that it is a breaking point in your life, a bolt of lightning which has scored a direct hit on you? That it is an unassimilable spiritual earthquake not every person can cope with, as a result of which people often slip into insanity?

 

The Universe has as many different centers as there are living beings in it. Each of us is a center of the Universe, and that Universe is shattered when they hiss at you: "You are under arrest."

 

If you are arrested, can anything else remain unshattered by this cataclysm?

 

But the darkened mind is incapable of embracing these displacements in our Universe, and both the most sophisticated and the veriest simpleton among us, drawing on all life's experience, can gasp out only: "Me? What for?"

 

 

More from The Gulag Archipelago...

As ignominious days go, this is an anniversary worth marking. Two years ago today, I found myself in jail for 13 hours, held on $75,000 bond, for the crime of intimating protest in the United States of America.

 

The details that I can release are here. I am prosecuting a federal civil rights lawsuit over the injustice I suffered, and it is progressing slowly. We should be deposing a number of arresting officers this week.

 

My attorney sent word last week that the defense will try again to depose me on Wednesday, January 14 at 10 in Hartford. I'm ready.

 

And finally, I am hoping that the state police will have completed a Freedom of Information Act request I submitted, modeled from the work of the Maryland branch of the ACLU.

 

The Maryland state police actively kept a database of more than 50 anti-establishment activists - whether they were anti-war, anti-nukes, anti-death penalty or pro-environment. This spying on community groups may be prevalent, and we need to stop it.

 

More later.

 

Free Kenny!

 

Our long national nightmare is not over yet. Next, we have to get the war criminals. First, though, I am being deposed today. The lawsuit is Krayeske v. Hartford, filed in the Federal District Court in New Haven, 07-cv-0827 (original complaint here).

 

At 10 a.m., I will be in the offices of Kainen, Escalera and McHale at 21 Oak Street, Hartford answering questions about all things January 3, 2007. I have only the truth and a quote from Wadsworth, or the Charter Oak to guide me.

"A great wrong is being done us and the black looks of your associates shall not deter me from saying so in your presence. Every man in this Colony has faced death too often to hesitate when called upon to express his opinions."

That is the voice of John Wadsworth (I think) speaking before Governor Andros, the king's representative, in Moses Butler's Tavern in Hartford, Oct. 31, 1687. Andros was there to reclaim the Fundamental Orders, the liberal Connecticut charter granted by the King. As the story goes, the candles went out, the Connecticut Charter disappeared from the tavern and a young Lt. Joseph Wadsworth hid the Charter in the mighty oak pictured above.

 

That courage is what we need today. As much as it is morning in America, as much as a new day has arrived, I don't believe that Obama ends the security state that put me in this predicament. Perhaps it is one of the soft changes we see.

 

One can only hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

 

UPDATE: My deposition was cancelled because Attorney Stephen Sarnoski, from Attorney General Dick Blumenthal's office, was on military leave and was a no show. Forget the fact that this was scheduled two months ago, Sarnoski probably made a mistake. Since his boss wasn't in, we couldn't confirm that the AG's office wouldn't want to depose me again - they are representing two state police officers - Mark Casista and Pedro Rosado. So we cancelled it, and Joseph McQuade, attorney for three city cops, will file for an extension of discovery until Janaury 28, 2009.

 

Link ...

 

What I have to say, my attorney pretty much wrote out in a short complaint, filed May 24, 2007 in U.S. District Court in New Haven. I'm really looking forward to what a jury thinks about what occurred on Jan. 3, 2007.

 

Christine Stuart over at CTNewsjunkie has the only news story on it to date (which leads to the question: does the mainstream media have short memories, are they overworked, or is it not newsworthy?). CTLocalpolitics has an interesting discussion as well.

 

Judge Stefan R. Underhill will preside over the federal case, and here's the full text of the complaint.

 

1. This is an action for false arrest, unreasonable bond and denial of the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of the press and due process of law arising under the First, Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

2. Jurisdiction of this court is invoked under the provisions of Sections 1331, 1343(3), 1367(a) and 2201(a) of Title 28 and, 42 U.S.C. Section 1983.

3. The plaintiff, Kenneth Krayeske, was at all times relevant to this action an adult resident of the State of Connecticut.

4. The defendant City of Hartford is a municipal corporation organized and operating under the laws of the State of Connecticut. It is a final policymaker for the Hartford Police Department.

5. Defendant Jeff Antuna was at all times relevant to this action, and he remains, a police officer employed by the City of Hartford. He is sued in his individual capacity only.

6. Defendant Andrew Weaver was at all times relevant to this action, and he remains, a police officer employed by the City of Hartford. He is sued in his individual capacity only.

7. Defendant Andrew Hawkens was at all times relevant to this action a law enforcement officer employed by the Connecticut State Police. He is sued in his individual capacity only.

8. John Doe was at all times relevant to this action a law enforcement officer acting under color of law. His true identity is unknown at this point. He is sued in his individual capacity.

9. Each defendant was acting under color of law at all times relevant to this action.

10. On the afternoon of January 3, 2007, Mr. Krayeske, who is a free-lance journalist and photographer, was taking photographs of Gov. Jodi Rell as the governor marched in her inaugural parade.

11. Mr. Krayeske had previously served as campaign manager for a rival of the governor’s, Green Party gubernatorial candidate Clifford Wallace Thornton, Jr. In that role, the plaintiff had been critical of the governor and her policies.

12. Prior to the inaugural parade, a member of the Connecticut State Police informed Hartford police officers that Mr. Krayeske was among a group of political activists who posed a possible threat to the governor. There was neither justification nor excuse for classifying Mr. Krayeske as a threat. Photographs of these activists were circulated among members of the Hartford Police Department.

13. The classification of political activists as possible threats to the governor violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

14. Rather than challenge the illegal classification of political activists as possible threats to the governor, the City of Hartford adopted this classification and characterization of select political activists. But for this adoption, there would have been no reason to single out Mr. Krayeske for arrest and detention.

15. As Mr. Krayeske stood taking photographs of the governor, Defendant Antuna recognized him from a photograph and placed him under arrest. The plaintiff was charged with breach of peace and interfering with a police officer.

16. The arrest of the plaintiff was unsupported by probable cause.

17. Prior to his arrest, Mr. Krayeske had written about the inauguration in an ironic tone, informing readers that “[T]ickets to see the Fairy Godmother turn herself into Cinderella are only $150.” Mr. Krayeske expressed dissent about the governor’s priorities.

18. After Mr. Krayeske was arrested, Defendant Weaver read him his Miranda rights and asked the plaintiff the following: “If we let you go now, will you be going to the inaugural ball tonight?” Mr. Krayeske answered that he did not intend to go to the ball.

19. Thereafter, Defendants Weaver, Antuna and John Doe, whose identity is at this time unknown, conspired together to impose an unreasonable bond intended to prevent Mr. Krayeske from being released from custody while the governor’s inaugural ball was taking place. Bond was set in the amount of $75,000 and was not reduced to a promise to appear until after the inaugural ball had ended.

20. Defendant Hawkens also requested a high bond, leaving word with the Hartford Police Department that he was to be notified at the “Connecticut State Police at 550-1033" if Mr. Krayeske were released from custody before 8 p.m.

21. The unreasonable bond resulted in Mr. Krayeske’s detention for more than 12 hours.

22. The criminal charges against the defendant were dismissed without the defendant’s tendering consideration of any kind.

23. The manner in which Mr. Krayeske was placed upon a list led to his warrantless and unjustified arrest, resulting in a deprivation of his liberty interest as protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.

24. Mr. Krayeske was arrested in substantial part because he had engaged in protected speech critical of the governor in violation of his rights under the First Amendment.

25. Mr. Krayeske was subjected to a false arrest.

26. Mr. Krayeske was held on an unreasonable bond intended solely to prevent him from appearing at the governor’s inaugural ball.

27. The acts of each individually named defendant were intentional and were inspired by malice.

28. As a direct and proximate result of the acts and omissions complained of herein, the plaintiff suffered fear, anxiety, loss of reputation, loss of liberty and the deprivation of the Constitutional rights herein described.

WHEREFORE, the plaintiff claims damages as follows:
1. Compensatory damages;
2. Punitive damages;
3. A declaratory ruling the municipal police departments may not compile and maintain lists of political activists;
4. Injunctive relief requiring the City of Hartford to destroy any lists in its possession of political activists;
5. Attorney’s fees and costs, arising under 42 U.S.C. 1988.