2019 action photo by Mary Anne Grady Flores
from Upstate Drone Action Coalition
On April 28, 2022, in DeWitt, New York night court, Judge David Gideon presiding, pro se defendants Mark Scibilia-Carver and Tom Joyce of the Ithaca Catholic Worker and the Upstate Drone Action Coalition had their 2019 violation charges for blocking, with several others, the main entrance of Hancock drone base, home of the 174th Attack Wing of the NYS Air National Guard. dismissed “in the interests of justice.”
According to Sujata Gibson, stand-by counsel and Cornell Law School faculty, the dismissal “was significant, not just to this movement but to our collective conversation about the role of nonviolent peaceful action in our democracy.” Gibson continued, “It was an honor to witness the thought that Judge Gideon put into his decision and deeply moving to hear the words of those who put themselves on the line to bring attention to these issues.”
Mark Scibilia-Carver, addressing the court, noted that, as we warned in court several years ago, “The U.S. has developed ‘low-yield’ nuclear weapons that can be delivered by MQ-9 drones” like those piloted robotically from Hancock Air Force Base. According to drone pilot whistle-blower Daniel Hale, serving 4 years in prison for revealing truths about U.S. drone warfare, 90% of drone kills were not the intended targets. On August 29, 2021, ten Ahmadi family members were killed after the father was mistakenly targeted as a Taliban operative. A recent New York Times article about the PTSD suicide of drone pilot Kevin Larson noted that “Drone crews have launched more missiles and killed more people than nearly anyone else in the military in the last decade.” There have been well over 30,000 cases of PTSD suicide in the U.S. military since 9/11/01.
Longtime Hancock drone resister Ed Kinane, declared, “After his ruling, Judge Gideon talked about how his views have changed regarding our civil resistance campaign at Hancock. Given the increasing perilousness of the world these days, he acknowledged that he had learned from Upstate Drone Action’s decade-long series of DeWitt court trials.” During Upstate Drone Action’s 13-year civil resistance campaign to expose Hancock’s lethal role in drone terrorism in Afghanistan and elsewhere, 148+ have been arrested with scores of trials and many jail sentences.
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Peace Activists Charges Dismissed
by Tom Joyce
In a complete surprise to us and our supporters in the courtroom, Judge David Gideon, on his own accord, dismissed our charges in the interest of justice. These were the remaining violation charges against Mark Scabilia-Carver and Tom Joyce from our blockade of the gates of Hancock Air Base in June of 2019.
We were in court to argue a motion that we had made to dismiss the charges based on speedy trial procedures. In the same year of 2019, New York State had instituted more detailed regulations regarding the kind of and amount of pre-trial notification of evidence that prosecutors and police were required to give people charged with crimes. They had totally failed to do that in our case. Although this was not the ideal way we would have wanted the case dismissed, for the following reasons we decided on this motion to dismiss the charges.
Many people who are charged with crimes are unrepresented by lawyers or are poorly represented. Prosecutors and police routinely misrepresent evidence, don’t inform defendants of evidence that supports their defense or fail to provide it in a timely fashion. We feel that those of us who have the ability to read and understand the law and have pro se legal assistance should use these privileges to force the District Attorneys to follow the rules. It is our hope that by doing so, other poor and unrepresented people will get a better chance at justice in the legal system.
Anyway, Judge Gideon opened his judgment by saying that he was “going to take this in a different direction”. A motion to dismiss in the interest of justice is one that civil resistance activists often make ourselves. Our rationale is usually that more serious crimes are occurring than the minor “crime” of civil disobedience. The judge based his on a 1976 case which outlined the parameters by which a judge could, of his or her own accord, dismiss. They include the fact that the alleged offense was not serious in nature, that the affect on the public was minimal, that there were no further offenses (we didn’t volunteer any information to the contrary!) and that there would be no loss in confidence in the general justice system. The latter is actually a testament to the fact that civil disobedience has a legitimate place in the public discourse.
Then, in comments after the ruling and our responses, Judge Gideon, off the record, talked about how his views have changed regarding our civil resistance campaign at Hancock. I (Tom), myself felt that he was acknowledging that things have become more and more serious regarding war and the consequences of armaments. We had a lively discussion afterwards on how others heard his candid remarks.
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by Mark Scibilia-Carver
Thank you Judge for the dismissal.
The U.S. has now developed so-called “low yield” nuclear weapons that can be delivered by the MQ-9 drones like the ones at Hancock or the Grey Eagle drone. We warned about this developing technology several years ago in an earlier court appearance.
The role of drones in illegal, unjust and immoral assassinations and war making by our government is increasing.
Daniel Hale, a repentant drone pilot, is now in prison for revealing the truth about U.S. drone warfare:
90% of drone kills have not been the intended targets. [Even the intended target in the killing of ten members of the Amadhi family in Kabul last August 29th was “innocent”, making it a 100% “mistake”. Imagine the terrorism of thousands of such drone strikes over endless years of war.]
The “War Crimes Indictment” that we presented in court some years ago is more valid than ever. It is the height of hypocrisy for President Biden to complain of Russian war crimes and call for Putin to face trial in the International Criminal Court when he fails to apply the same standards to U.S. administrations and refuses to allow himself or U.S. military personnel to be subject to the Court.
A recent New York Times article about the PTSD suicide of drone pilot Kevin Larson noted that, “Drone crews have launched more missiles and killed more people than nearly anyone else in the military in the last decade.” There have been well over 30,000 cases of PTSD suicide in the U.S. military since 9/11/01. I hope you will take time to read this article about the very sad case of Captain Larson. (NYT April 15)