In what can only be called one of the most ridiculous federal criminal prosecutions in U.S. history, the U.S. Department of Justice and, specifically, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Florida, ended up with a massive amount of egg on its face. The case involved the criminal prosecution of Black rights activists affiliated with the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement, including the 82-year-old chairman of the Party, Omali Yeshitela, and some White allies, including a 78-year-old woman named Penny Hess.
The feds accused the defendants of serving as Russian agents. Needless to say, the prosecution reflected the deep anti-Russia paranoia that has come to characterize the federal government, especially the Justice Department. This federal mindset is simply an outgrowth of the old Cold War mentality in which federal officials were convinced that the Russians were coming to get us — along with the Cubans, North Koreans, Chinese, North Vietnamese, and other Reds. The “modern” anti-Russia mindset is that the Russians are influencing millions of presumably feeble-minded public-schooled American voters who will easily fall for Russian propaganda if not protected by their federal overlords.
What was the real crime that the defendants had committed? They have long criticized the militarism and foreign interventionism of the U.S. Empire, just as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Mohammad Ali, and other Blacks have done for decades. The criticism is bad enough from the standpoint of “patriotism,” but the fact that such criticism comes from Blacks obviously makes it significantly worse. The fact that the criticisms matched criticisms of the Russian government sealed the fate of the accused. In the minds of federal officials, it had to be — it just had to be — that the defendants were serving as unregistered agents of the Russian government. As such, they had to be punished severely and, it was hoped, be put away in a federal penitentiary for many years, which would not only silence them but also send a message to other Black activists to shut up and become loyal supporters of the U.S. Empire.
The technical charges against the defendants that ended up going to the jury were (1) failing to register with the U.S. government as Russian agents; and (2) conspiracy to fail to register as Russian agents.
In his opening statement at trial, a federal prosecutor told the jury that the defendants had opposed U.S. genocide of Blacks here in the United States as well as U.S. policy in Ukraine by siding with Russia rather than Ukraine. The prosecutor stated that “the defendants acted at the direction of the Russian government to sow division right here in the U.S.” Imagine — such horrific offenses!
The prosecutors were hoping to send the defendants away for 15 years, which, of course, would have been a life sentence for Yeshitela and Hess. The prosecutors were also aiming to hit the defendants with a massive fine in the hopes of bankrupting them.
Alas, things did not work out well for the feds in this criminal prosecution — and rightly so. They ended up having to wipe lots of egg from their faces. The jury returned with a not guilty verdict on the failure to register charge and a guilty verdict on the conspiracy charge, which is obviously a nonsensical verdict.
But let’s first note the ludicrous nature of both of these charges in what is purportedly a free country. In a free country, a person has the right to work for any foreign government he wants. Oh, yes, I know that Russia is considered to be an “official enemy” or “rival” or “opponent” or “competitor” of the U.S. Empire. But that’s just an imperialist construct. The fact is that in a genuinely free society, people have the right to work for whomever they want.
People also have the right to oppose any policy of their government, including opposing the massive death toll and the mass incarceration of Blacks in the U.S. war on drugs and also opposing the U.S. Empire’s foreign policy of invasions, occupations, wars of aggression, state-sponsored assassinations, torture, indefinite detention, renditions to foreign regimes, coups, and provoking wars between other countries.
In fact, in the United States, it is perfectly legal to work for the Russian government or any other government. So, what’s the problem? The problem is that the U.S. government has enacted a law that requires people who work for foreign governments to register their names with the feds. So, one is free to work for the Russian government, but if one does so, he has to put his name on an official list of the U.S. government.
That is ludicrous. Why should anyone have to register with the federal government for any reason, including working for a foreign government? Where in the Constitution does it give the federal government the power to enact such a law? How can such a registration requirement be reconciled with the principles of a free society? It can’t be. In a genuinely free society, people have the right not only to work for foreign governments but also the freedom not to register their names with the federal government. It’s probably worth mentioning that Russia also has the same type of registration requirement.
In any event, much to the Justice Department’s chagrin, the jury acquitted the defendants of failing to register as Russian agents. That could only mean one thing — that the jury concluded that they weren’t working as agents for the Russian government.
Yet, the jury then convicted them of conspiring to fail to register as federal agents, which makes the case even more ludicrous. The jury verdict essentially said that while the defendants had not served as agents of the Russian government, they had entered into an agreement to not register as agents of the Russian government. The verdict only goes to show the nonsensical nature of the law of conspiracy.
In any event, the feds were still hoping that the judge would sentence the defendants to serve several years in a federal prison on the conspiracy conviction. It didn’t happen. Pointing out that the case revolved largely around the defendants’ exercise of free speech, the judge gave the defendants probation and 300 hours of community service.
While the mild sentence was clearly a rebuke of the federal prosecutors, what the judge should have done instead is throw out the conviction entirely. To their credit, the defendants are appealing their conviction notwithstanding the judge’s light sentence. Hopefully, the Court of Appeals will throw more egg on the faces of the federal prosecutors and throw out this ludicrous Russia-paranoia-based criminal conviction.
Reprinted with permission from Future of Freedom Foundation.
