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Health & Fitness

It's Criminal – An Unquestionably Innocent Man Was Sent to Cook County Jail

We recently described how Mr. Koger was brutally arrested and unjustly sentenced to nearly a year in jail for peacefully videotaping at an Ethical Humanist Society meeting in Skokie, which was open to the public. This past Tuesday, a large crowd turned out at the Skokie Court for a hearing, which was supposed to be about, among other things, his Post-Conviction Relief Petition (PCRP). This petition was filed in March and provided powerful evidence and arguments for his innocence. However, when Mr. Koger's case was finally called, the presiding judge announced that she had rejected his PCRP more than three months ago, on April 15, and that the 30 day period in which to file an appeal had expired! Furthermore, the judge stated that the prosecutors had told her that Mr. Koger had been seen in the courthouse on April 15, but left before his case was called. Really? This is stranger than strange, because neither Mr. Koger nor his attorneys had ever received notice of the April 15th hearing and they were continually checking to see why the PCRP was apparently being ignored.

To add insult to injury, the judge insisted the file showed that Mr. Koger would only receive credit for having served two weeks of his sentence, whereas he had already spent two months in jail, before receiving bond. His attorney said, “In my 38 years as an attorney I have never seen anything like the blatant, sloppy and disingenuous actions of the Court today.”  Gregory's attorneys plan to take further legal action and his defense committee, the Ad Hoc Committee, is determined to continue to press for his release. We have started a Change.org petition to Country Sheriff Tom Dart and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinckle asking that Mr. Koger be released from prison to serve the true balance of his unjust sentence under house arrest (https://www.change.org/petitions/tom-dart-cook-county-sheriff-release-gregory-koger-on-electronic-monitoring ) Please show that you care about justice in America and sign the petition.

For all the details about the case, including the powerful evidence of Mr Koger's innocence, see www.dropthecharges.net.

The Ad Hoc Committee for Reason

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