
Freedom Writer - March 1996

Grand jury won't issue indictments

By Adam Guasch-Melendez

On March 26, 1996, a federal grand jury in Alexandria, 
Virginia is scheduled to conclude an 18-month investigation 
into the possible existence of a national conspiracy 
to commit acts of violence against providers of abortion 
services. The grand jury will be issuing no indictments.

As news of the failure of the grand jury to issue indictments 
first broke in late January, the radical anti-abortion 
movement quickly rushed to put its spin on the story. 
Their argument was simple: there are no indictments, 
because there is no national conspiracy. They're right.

Under the legal definition, conspiracy occurs when 
two or more people plan to violate the law, or plan 
to achieve a legal goal through illegal actions, or 
plan to achieve an illegal goal through legal actions. 
In addition, some act  legal or illegal  must take 
place in furtherance of that plan, and there must be 
specific intent to violate the law.

Now, having defined conspiracy, let's look at the violence. 
Contrary to popular opinion, the violence that the 
grand jury has been investigating is not something 
new. It dates back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. 
By 1983, according to the National Abortion Federation, 
13 clinics had been burned, eight bombed, and two people 
kidnapped. In 1991 there were two attempted murders; 
in 1993 two doctors were killed and one more wounded 
by gunfire. In 1994, four people were killed, eight 
others narrowly escaped death, seven were sent to the 
hospital in a single butyric acid attack, and over 
a dozen clinics were torched. In all, there have been 
over 200 attempts at arson or bombings  more than 
half successful. Clearly, the violence is there. What 
about the conspiracy?

In 1993, Paul Hill circulated his "Defensive Action" 
statement, which promoted the concept of justifiable 
homicide of doctors. Other outspoken advocates of the 
doctrine also signed the statement, including Rev. 
Michael Bray, a convicted clinic bomber, and Father 
David Trosch, a Catholic priest who has been censured 
for his efforts to promote murder. Andrew Burnett is 
also among the signers; his magazine, the Life Advocate, 
is the most influential publication in the radical 
wing and openly promotes the justifiable homicide doctrine. 
In all, 30 leaders in the radical wing of the movement 
signed the statement. Considering the risks involved 
in making such a public statement, that's an impressive 
 even frightening  number. But agreeing on a doctrine 
is not quite the same thing as conspiracy.

In April, 1994, at a meeting in Chicago of approximately 
80 leaders in the movement, there was a dramatic split 
among attendees, with Paul Hill and his support for 
violence at the center of the dispute. At least half 
of those in attendance supported Hill. According to 
the Pro-Life Action League's Joseph  Scheidler, the 
founder of the radical wing, "It wasn't just justifiable 
homicide; it was [support for] violence, bombing and 
arson... I thought, 'Wow, the movement has gone through 
some kind of transition.'" According to Operation Rescue 
National director Flip Benham, "I went to Chicago because 
I had to confront Paul Hill.  What he's saying is heresy, 
it's sin.... But I think I was in the minority." 

In the weeks after the meeting, many on the pro-violence 
side of the dispute created the American Coalition 
of Life Activists (ACLA), including Andrew Burnett, 
David Crane, Roy McMillan, Monica Miller, Michael Dodds, 
and Joe Foreman, all of whom signed the Defensive Action 
statement (Foreman later had his name removed.) Since 
its first public action in August, 1994, the ACLA has 
quickly grown to become the most prominent group in 
the radical wing. Its main tactic is the harassment 
of doctors; it encourages home pickets and "wanted" 
posters, offers cash rewards for people who "convince" 
doctors to stop performing abortions, and has published 
a "deadly dozen" list of doctors being targeted for 
special treatment. Its individual members  although 
not the ACLA itself  continue to advocate more violent 
action.

There are many other individuals, including Florida's 
John Burt, who has worked with both Paul Hill and Michael 
Griffin, and Shelley Shannon, a convicted arsonist 
and attempted murderer who had ties to Burnett, Hill, 
Bray, convicted arsonist John Brockhoeft (another Burt 
associate), and others, who are also closely allied 
with the pro-violence crowd, despite not taking direct 
roles in the leadership of the ACLA. It was these people 
 the organized groups and the free agents  who were 
the focus of the grand jury's investigation.

The grand jury was also looking at the problem from 
another direction. After Shelley Shannon's arrest for 
the attempted murder of Dr. George Tiller, investigators 
turned up significant evidence of her involvement in 
violent activities. They also found something even 
more interesting  a small book called "The Army of 
God." The authorship of the book is not known, but 
it has undergone at least three printings, and apparently 
has reached wide distribution. The book claims that 
the Army of God is a network of people who take violent 
action, and it provides careful, step-by-step instructions 
for such violence. How bad is it? In the words of the 
book itself, "... the answers and tactics described 
in the following pages will sound terrifying at best, 
and demonic at worst..." That's an understatement, 
at best.

As far as an outsider can determine, over the last 
18 months the grand jury has been made aware that there 
is an extensive network of people who advocate violent 
action; some of those people work closely together, 
and have even formed an organization to promote their 
views. They have also seen the Army of God manual, 
and know that there are many extremists across the 
country who share among themselves the information 
and tools necessary to commit extraordinary acts of 
violence. Among the other items found in the investigation 
of Shelley Shannon is evidence that she herself was 
a member of the Army of God, and that she did in fact 
work with others in preparing for some of her crimes. 
The grand jury has also learned that acts of anti-abortion 
violence are common, almost routine, in the United 
States.

So why will there be no indictments? Because, despite 
all of that, there still isn't a national conspiracy 
 in the strict, technical sense. Hill, Bray, Trosch, 
Burnett, other signers of the Defensive Action statement, 
and other members of the ACLA, may well be advocating 
violent action on the part of others. But there is 
no evidence that any of them have conspired to commit 
acts of violence, other than the ones they themselves 
may have been convicted of. They don't need to. The 
Army of God may exist, but it's an information- and 
equipment-sharing network, not a planning organization. 
Its members generally don't know each other. Shelley 
Shannon may have had some assistance with planning 
her crimes, but purely on a local level. When she told 
others of what she had done, it was after the fact, 
not beforehand.

In order for a national conspiracy to be shown, the 
grand jury must find evidence of a proverbial "smoke-filled 
room," in which specific acts are planned, or at the 
very least, specific individuals are encouraged to 
take violent action. They can't find it, because it's 
not there. Instead, the advocates of violence have 
employed a deliberate, "leaderless resistance" strategy, 
in which they promote violence, enable violence, and 
expect violence, but plan nothing. For years, the anti-abortion 
movement has been priming its followers, preaching 
Randall Terry's message "If you believe that abortion 
is murder, act like it's murder." The message has been 
heard and accepted; the troops are ready. Hill, Bray, 
Burnett and the others are simply issuing a call without 
caring who answers, as long as, in the end, it is answered. 
It's a strategy that works  there are six dead bodies 
to prove it. No one ordered Michael Griffin, or Shelley 
Shannon, or John Salvi (allegedly), or Paul Hill to 
pick up a gun  no one needed to.

Of course, there are the little conspiracies  three 
people sitting in a room to plot an attack on their 
local clinic, for example. Reports indicate that the 
grand jury will be turning over evidence of these conspiracies 
to local authorities, and indictments are expected. 
But a national conspiracy to commit acts of violence 
isn't there, and attempts to find one are doomed to 
failure. This does not mean that the pro-choice movement 
is without tools in this fight. The famous _NOW_v._
Scheidler_ case is moving forward, attempting to prove 
a different kind of conspiracy  harassment and blockades, 
rather than arson and murder. In October, a major lawsuit, 
seeking damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars, 
was filed against the ACLA and several individuals, 
claiming that the defendants are threatening, condoning 
and promoting violence. These efforts can succeed, 
because unlike the grand jury investigation, they have 
been guided by people who understand the radical anti-abortion 
movement and its tactics.

So let the extremists proclaim "victory." The Department 
of Justice may have blown its shot at it, but the pro-choice 
movement is just getting started.

_Adam_Guasch-Melendez,_a_Washington,_D.C.-based_clinic_
escort,_maintains_the_[ref001]Abortion Rights Activist 
page on the world-wide web._

[ref002]Return to table of contentsCopyright 1996 IFASThe
Freedom Writer / ifas@berkshire.net

[ref001] http://www.cais.com/agm/
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