March 17, 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: C. Drew (day) 773/561-7676
e-mail: umcac@art-teez.org
Dr. Dre Liberates Michigan
Can an Artist Free Illinois?
Dr. Dre, the rapper, on March 26, 2011, won a ten year long lawsuit accusing him of eavesdropping on policemen for audio recording them in public while they were on-duty. This sets a precedent for the citizens of Michigan to be able to use their cell phones to audio-record police who arrest and interrogate them in public. Next door, in Illinois, an artist faces a class 1 felony, one step below attempted murder, for audio recording his own arrest for selling art for $1. Will this artist spend years in prison for his action or will his case set similar precedent for Illinois and the nation?
Although there is First Amendment case law on our right to video record police in public, there is none yet on audio-recording on-duty police in public. This forces citizens to fight for their rights on a state by state basis until such First Amendment case law is developed in a federal court. Dr. Dre's case just won that right for the citizens of Michigan at the State Supreme Court level.
In Illinois Anita Alvarez, the Cook County State's Attorney, appears eager to try Mr. Drew and convict him on a charge that carries a sentence of 4-15 years in a state prison. Mr. Drew's act of audio-recording his own arrest is legal in 47 of our 50 states.
Mr. Drew was arrested while testing the constitutionally of Chicago's peddlers license. He has advocated for artists' for 23 years as the Executive Director of the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center. Mr. Drew says. "Chicago ranks behind many other cities nationally and internationally in the public forums it provides to its artists in which to sell their First Amendment protected work. We even rank behind Moscow. We don't have one open-air arts market where artists can sell their art freely."
Many people in Chicago think that Mr. Drew's long time criticism of the City's policy toward artists' is the real reason Anita Alvarez is charging him with this extreme class 1 felony for audio-recording his own arrest when he was picked up for a misdemeanor for selling art. The State's Attorney dismissed the misdemeanor as soon as the court found probable cause for the felony eavesdropping charge.
The artist, out on a $20,000 bond, continues to print and give away free art-patches in public. Mr. Drew invites artists to submit art-patch designs for volunteers to screen print on cotton cloth to be given-away pinned to literature promoting First Amendment literacy and awareness of artists' rights to sell art in public. In opposing this unconstitutional miss-application of Illinois eavesdropping law the artist has taken to defending the rights of Illinois citizens to audio-record police in public.
In the past, this eavesdropping law, on the books in this radical form since 1994, was rarely enforced against citizens and when it was, the arrests often appeared to be politically and/or racially motivated. More recently, arrests for audio-recording police have increased in Illinois. Many more citizens are using their cell phones to expose wrongdoing by police. Could it be that Anita Alvarez and the State of Illinois are using this high profile prosecution to tell citizens they have no right to use their cell phones to gather evidence of wrongdoing by police or to protect themselves or others in court?
Edolphus Towns, Congressman from New York, intends to reintroduce a House Congressional Resolution, H.Con.Res.298, stating that governments should not use wiretapping laws to charge citizens for audio or video recording police in public when they do not interfere with the officers. Maryland has dropped the eavesdropping charges against Anthony Graber who Time Magazine recently made famous for audio recording an officer in public. The county judge in Maryland ruled on-duty police have no privacy to protect in public. Illinois still disagrees.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed suit against Anita Alvarez in federal court for enforcing this unconstitutional law against Mr. Drew and others. A recent federal lawsuit, Frobe vs the Village of Lindenhurst, filed March 11, 2011 in the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, will also soon test the right of Illinois citizens to audio-record police in public.
Illinois remains very aggressive toward the prosecution of this outspoken artist even though the ACLU is challenging Cook County State's Attorney, Anita Alvarez, Frobe is suing in Federal court, Dr. Dre has liberated Michigan and the whole world is watching. What will the world see? Will the police continue to be shielded from the public and courts by this law? Or will fresh case law result that cements our freedom to bring truth from the public streets into our courts to allow us to do our democratic duty to oversee our public servants? Who will liberate Illinois? Stay tuned for the answer.
Contact
Christopher A. Drew
1630 W. Wilson Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640
773-561-7676
Listing and links to Dr. Dre Court Documents
http://coa.courts.mi.gov/resources/asp/viewdocket.asp?casenumber=282711&fparties=&inqtype=public&yr=0
Frobe v Lindenhurst - A brief filed with the Federal District Court (very interesting read)
http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/110314-frobe-v-lindenhurst-11cv1722.pdf
The Free Speech Artists' Movement links to pr, legal cases and abundant information on artists rights.
http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech.htm
The blog of Artist, C Drew - Street Artist Adventures
http://www.c-drew.com/blog
Links to the many videos, on and off line media coverage of the C Drew eavesdropping issue
http://art-teez.org/pr-online-clippings.htm
Christopher A. Drew umcac@art-teez.org 773-561-7676 (Office) 773-678-7545 (cell)
ACLU's Filing
http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/100819-aclu-v-alvarez.pdf
Links to all C Drew's Felony Case Filings and Transcripts
http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech.htm
Deanna Isaacs tells Chris Drew's story in the Chicago Reader 10/22/10
The Accidental Poster Child
In These Times: Free Speech, for Art’s Sake
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5325/free_speech_for_arts_sake/
Nancy Bechtol video: C Drew Answers Eavesdropping Charges
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-K_dTlzs5M
Chicago's Thick Blue Wall - Radley Balko writes for Reason.com on C Drew's arrest
http://reason.com/archives/2009/12/14/chicagos-thick-blue-wall
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