Back in March I posted the story and video of a dear teacher and friend, Chris Drew, who is currently on trial in Chicago for using a tape recorder to document his arrest by Chicago police while he was trying to sell art for $1 on the street. They're trying to pin an insane felony of eavesdropping on him and he isn't the only one who is in a fight for his life with the CPD regarding this troubling issue. Below is the story of Nikita Biddle that Chris posted on his art-teez.org website for the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center in Chicago. Please feel free to contact Nikita directly to see if there's any way to help with her case. Her email is: queenniki88@gmail.com. Chris can also be contacted directly at 773-561-7676 and also by email at umcac@art-teez.org. In this new tech age of cellphones with cameras and video recorders and all manner of smartphone gadgets these cases are at the forefront of our rights and personal safety. Do you know where your state stands on the right to record the actions of police officers and other public workers??
The Nikita Biddle Story
Nikita was brave enough to fight this unfair eviction action. Her eviction trial on was set for April 28, 2010. Before this court date, the landlord knew that she and the housing authority were going to lose the eviction lawsuit. The property manager appears to have joined forces with two police officers to either set Nikita up or to scare her to pack up and leave her apartment building.
Two policemen who were notorious for abusing tenants and had been on duty at this site for a long time, began a campaign of the harassment of Nikita to try to force her to give up her fight to maintain her public housing because they knew that her innocence would of been proven during her eviction trial date. Joshua Horton, was one of the officers harassing Nikita. He and his partner tried to intimidate Nikita in the stairwell of the building in late January 2010. When they attempted to harass her Nikita called 911 to report them but the dispatcher told her to just come to the station to make a report. The officers not only followed and harassed her on the stairwell, they also followed her off of the stairwell to her sister's apartment continually trying to instigate a negative and violent response out of her. She did not respond to their attempt to provoke her.
Two weeks after being harassed in the stairwell, the two policemen showed up at her door (Feb 2, 2010) claiming she was under investigation for sending the property manager a threatening letter. She had not sent the property manager a threat and considered this visit to be part of their pattern of intimidation. She asked them to leave her alone and she tried to shut her door but one of the officers put his foot in her door. She told him to remove his foot and get out of her apartment because he didn't have a warrant.He removed his foot, but then stuck a shim into the gap of the door by the hinges so she couldn't shut her door. They continued to harass her. On other occasions, as well, they and the property manager made her life miserable in many ways with intimidating acts and statements.
By February 17, 2010 it was apparent to Nikita that she needed some evidence of what the authorities in her building were doing to her so she could fight her eviction in court. She brought an old battery operated tape deck to the lobby of the building to try to openly record the intimidation and threats of the property manager and the officer Joshua Horton, one of the two antagonistic policemen. The Officer immediately arrested Nikita Biddle for eavesdropping. The other officer at the scene wrote a false disorderly conduct complaint along with the property manager for disturbing her peace and the peace of other tenants - none of whom were named in the complaint. She was handcuffed and sent immediately to jail for two days at the Aurora police department.
In her arraignment the misdemeanor charge for disturbing the peace was dropped but the felony charge of eavesdropping was upheld and she was locked up with a bond beyond her ability to pay. She remained in the Kane County jail without bail at the mercy of the court. The court had no mercy.
On April 28, 2010 a correctional officer took her out of her county jail cell and transported her to her eviction trial in another town. She was handcuffed and chained, dressed in an orange jail outfit and transported in a police patty wagon to her eviction trial. She was brought before a judge. The property manager, policemen, and executive director of the housing authority were there and were represented by their AHA lawyer. Nikita was made to sit separately from everyone else and humiliated by her treatment, as if she were a dangerous criminal, when she had only tried to gather evidence in public for this court. This was a bench trial. Nikita defended herself pro SE. The Judge saw on the video and that Nikita wasn't violently involved. The judge upon hearing that Nikita had been the peace maker and that there was no evidence to back up the claims of the housing authorities - found for Nikita.
Nikita was innocent! All Nikita wanted to do was gather evidence in public for her eviction trial to show how these government authorities were trying to harm her. She won her trial even without this evidence. They then took her back to the Kane county jail on the "eavesdropping charge" because she could not afford bail. This is how some government employees are using your tax money.
She spent a total of 80 days locked up at your expense until she finally agreed to plead guilty to a class 4 felony in order to be released from jail on May 7, 2010. She was fined $4,000, ordered to make monthly payments and placed on probation.
Nikita lost her public housing. She lost her job during the turmoil of this incident. She had a felony hung around her neck that makes looking for work much more difficult. This is how the Illinois eavesdropping law is being used to violate the basic rights of innocent and vulnerable citizens in Illinois who only want to audio-record public officials in public to protect themselves in court.
Nikita is a young woman who now is tagged for life unless she is some how able to challenge this miscarriage of justice in Illinois. She is presently bravely attempting a pro-SE challenge of her conviction. This young person spends her time on the Internet at a local college learning how to legally fight for her freedom.
Freedom is something we take for granted until we find it taken from us. The Illinois eavesdropping law, as it is being applied to innocent people who audio-record public servants in public, is a violation of everyone's rights and we do not find out about that until we try to stand up for our rights. Nikita is standing up for her rights in Illinois. By fighting for her rights against this unjust law she is helping to fight for your rights, as well. Is there anyone with legal knowledge willing to help her by e-mail with this daunting process? How can we tolerate these violations of our rights and still sing our national anthem? Nikita is brave and is struggling to be free in America. Who else is willing to help her work for freedom? Nikita Biddle may be contacted at queenniki88@gmail.com
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