WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. July 6, 2004: On Saturday, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Steve Goldstein reported on the jailing last week of Elena Sassower, the White Plains Co-Founder of the Center for Judicial Accountability. To date, even though the CitizeNetReporter, (read regularly and longingly by Gannett and Times staffers), reported Ms. Sassower’s incarceration, neither The Gannett Journal News, nor the New York Times have reported the puzzling plight of the Westchester activist, though each found plenty of newsprint space to report on a former President’s booksigning appearance over the weekend.
SASSOWER IN THE SLAMMER in virtual solitary confinement in the Nation’s Capitol, reported only by The Philadelphia Inquirer and The CitizeNetReporter. To date, Mayor Delfino and his office have not seen fit to comment on Ms. Sassower’s plight, and neither has Adam Bradley’s Office, or State Senator Nicholas Spano, or State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, and there has been no comment from Senators Clinton and Schumer or Representative Nita Lowey. County Executive Andy Spano’s office was as of Friday, attempting to get detail on the case. County Legislator Bill Ryan could not be reached. Photo Capture from Center for Judicial Accountability by WPCNR News.
Goldstein’s story softpedals the government role in jailing Sassower, leading the article with the sentence, “Elena Sassower couldn’t bring herself to say, “I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
Jailhouse Interview
Goldstein interviewed Ms. Sassower in her prison cell in Washington, D.C., where she is serving 6 months jail time for a misdeameanor because she would not accept terms of probation that she felt took away her freedom of speech. Sassower is quoted in the Inquirer article as saying being in prison on the fourth of July for essentially asking to speak at a congressional hearing was “horrible.”
Goldstein reports that Sassower clung to a chair when being escorted out of the hearing on May 20. He also reports that 24 hours before Sassower was to attend the Judiciary Committee hearing, “Senate Staffers” “alerted” U.S. Capitol Police, who contacted Sassower, according to Goldstein and told Sassower not to disturb the hearing. Goldstein cites court records for this information.
Goldstein writes that Sassower “demanded to be heard,” at the meeting, when Sassower’s mother, Doris Sassower, and also a White Plains resident, said that after Senator Saxby Chambliss gavelled the hearing closed, her daughter said there were people in opposition to Judge Richard Wesley’s affirmation, and asked to speak politely.
Stormy Trial
Sassower is described during her trial, by Goldstein, as having “repeatedly clashed” with District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Brian F. Holeman, who Goldstein reports had her removed from the courtroom.
One week ago Monday, Holeman presented a series of conditions for her probation, ( the prosecution recommended a suspended sentence of five days in jail, probation and a course in anger management).
Holeman presented a very different set of terms for her probation, making the probation period two years, banning her from government buildings, no contact with the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the writing of letters of apology to committee members, and U.S. Capitol police officers admitting wrong doing.
Sassower rejected this, at which point Holeman directed she begin serving her sentence of 6 months immediately, instead of being free while the sentence was appealed. She has now served 7 and a half days of the sentence.
But you only know about it if you live in Philadelphia or read The CitizeNetReporter, while in today’s very New York Times, there is a frontpage article on a Pakistani held in custody by the U.S. government, and nothing to date on Ms. Sassower’s jailing.
Goldstein quotes Sassower’s attorney, Mark Goldstone as comparing the trial of Sassower, the advance warning, as a throwback to the Soviet Union, and the conditions of sentence as those given to someone who “attacks” a senator.
Solitary Confinement?
Goldstein reports that Sassower is allowed to spend only 30 minutes a day outside of her cell.
Doris Sassower, Elena’s mom, said she still is not allowed to have visitors, and was transferred to another jail on Saturday. The way Elena’s mom describes Elena’s jail situation, it is as if she is in solitary confinement in a James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart prison movie.
Mr. Goldstein’s complete article may be found at www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/ConstitutionNewswire/410.shtml
