UPDATE 8/7/12:  The remaining 10 arrestees were offered the same plea deal in Lincoln County Court this morning.  All have accepted the deal.  All arrestees have now been released at of 2:30 pm.  Thanks for all of your steadfast support.  More soon.

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Great news from the Lincoln County Court today.  Half of our arrestees had their bail reduction hearings today.  Instead of reducing their bails, the court offered a plea deal.  In exchange for pleading guilty to the trespassing charge only, our activists were offered a $500 fine and 1 years probation.  Nine arrestees have accepted the deal and will be released today.  The other protester assigned that magistrate is Dustin Steele, who is free and has not taken the deal.  What a relief and victory for all who have supported the Hobet 20.

This isn’t over however.  The remaining 10 prisoners have a different magistrate and their hearing isn’t until next week.  There is no guarantee they will be offered the same deal or in fact any deal at all.  We must keep the pressure on and continue to support our brothers and sisters in jail.

We are also still committed to holding the state and the police accountable for their actions on Saturday.  We are asking the US Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia and the WV Attorney General to open an investigation immediately.

Please sign this petition today!

Below is a brand new video documenting many of our allegations.  Watch it.  Dustin is meeting with their lawyers today to discuss filing a formal complaint over the injuries they received from the State Police.

We remain undeterred and committed to our fight to end strip mining and create a healthy and viable future for West Virginia.  Dustin always says it best.

“”While the State Police in conjunction with the coal companies tried to break our spirit and our resistance by using violence to quell the fire of our movement, this attempt has failed.  My desire to struggle and organize for the future of the people and environment in West Virginia has never been stronger and, just like my grandfather fought with all of his allies, I will continue to fight for an end of mountaintop removal for the future generations of this state.”

~Dustin Steele.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 at 12:28 pm and is filed under action, Law Enforcement, Legal, Mountain Mobilization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.