Downloadable below is a court filing on behalf of  Peter Stewart's mother.  It opposes the cops' attempt to get the civil rights case against them dismissed -before a trial happens.  The document goes into more detail about the police murder of Peter Stewart in June 2007. 

Local cops burned a house down, knowing that they would kill Peter Stewart inside.

Important Download: http://redwoodcurtaincopwatch.net/files/Opp_MotionToDismiss10_28_10.pdf

Also, here is the First Amended Complaint (what the lawsuit is about): http://redwoodcurtaincopwatch.net/files/1st_amendComplaint_10_15_09.pdf

**If you have trouble downloading these documents, feel free to call CopWatch at (707) 633-4493.**

Martin F. Cotton II was BEAT TO DEATH by Eureka Police and Humboldt Sheriff's on August 9th, 2007. 

Please join us Tuesday August 9th, 2011 in Remembrance of Martin Cotton and in Resistance to the injustice system that took his life.

Martin Cotton won't be forgotten!  Stop Police Brutality

---1:00pm RALLY in front of the Courthouse in Eureka

and Walk to the Boardwalk for peaceful REMEMBRANCE of Martin

We have plenty of signs, some from past demonstrations and a bunch from folks in the Bay area- sent in support of Justice for Martin Cotton! 

Then, later on...

---6:00pm  "Tell It Like It Is!” Open Mic: Survival Stories about Police Violence

at Synapsis 47 W 3rd Street, Eureka

Police State Continues to Expand.
If we don't confront it now, then WHEN?

August 7, 2010: Humboldt County Sheriff's Deputies Murder Robert Garth in Blue Lake

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/08/18655719.php?show_comments=1#18655924

http://www.youtube.com/user/RedwoodCopWatch#p/u

August 8, 1978: Philadelphia Police Try to Kill MOVE Men, Women, and Children at MOVE Home; Police Kill One of Their Own and Lock Up Nine MOVE Members "for Murder"; The MOVE 9, U.S. political prisoners, have been in prison since 1978

http://move9parole.blogspot.com/

http://www.archive.org/details/AH-MOVE

Civil Rights Trial in SF Regarding POLICE MURDER of Hupa Man, Peter Stewart

The case is called JACQUELINE ALFORD v. JAMIE BARNEY.

Courtroom 1
17th Floor
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco (Federal Court)

  Police Murder of Hupa Man, Peter Stewart: http://redwoodcurtaincopwatch.net/node/666  

Supreme Court: Family of man shot by police can sue

By JULIE JOHNSON  THE PRESS DEMOCRAT  Published: Monday, January 24, 2011

( page of 2 )

A U.S. Supreme Court judge ruled Monday that the family of a bipolar Santa Rosa man who was shot and killed by police officers during a 2007 confrontation can proceed with their lawsuit against the Santa Rosa Police Department.

Richard DeSantis

 In the December 17, 2010 Santa Rosa Press Democrat there was a very predictable story titled: JUDGE: SANTA ROSA POLICE JUSTIFIED IN 2008 KILLING. Wish we had a nickel everytime some version of that headline has been printed in our local press. Below is a statement (also sent as a letter to the Editor) from Jesse’s mom Valerie Barber. I’ve worked with Val for the past two years since her son’s death and she has been very generous with her time and energy reaching out to other families in similar situations. She went through the laborious process of finding an attorney and putting in the hundreds of hours it takes to build a case—a process that the local Leday and Sullivan families are now going through. Even getting the names of the officers who commit these killings is difficult and the deck is stacked big time against any sort of justice... for families left suddenly and unnecessarily without a loved one.

The civil trial in Oakland: Siehna Cotton et al. v. Eureka Police Dept. and Humboldt County Sheriff's Dept. has been POSTPONED.  Please keep your eyes and ears out for the new date, some time after February!

A couple of us from Redwood Curtain CopWatch want to travel to the Bay Area (and points between and around here and there) to talk to groups of people about what happened to Martin Cotton, to invite people to the trial, and to help connect the conversations and struggles that our communities are engaged in regarding police brutality. [See below for links about events planned so far] We are looking for ideas, suggestions, and help in our organizing to make presentations and participate in gatherings and conversations regarding state violence, in these days leading up to the trial. Beginning on December 13th and probably running for two or three weeks, we want to have a full schedule in the Bay Area and thereabouts.  Can you help?  Perhaps, for instance, you could book us to make a presentation where you live, publicize our visit and the upcoming trial, and/or inform us of events and discussions already planned in your area.

please help spread the word

Holding Police Who Kill Accountable:

Justice for Martin Cotton event

December 21st

***

Long Haul Info Shop
3124 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley CA

Thursday December 16

7:00pm

Martin Cotton II was living houseless and unarmed when, on August 9, 2007, in Eureka California, he was severely abused by police, then brought to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility. At the jail, he was further attacked by guards and left to die on the cell floor.

On Monday, January 10, 2011 a civil trial will begin in Oakland: Siehna Cotton et al. v. Eureka Police Dept. and Humboldt County Sheriff's Dept.  The federal civil rights lawsuit was brought on behalf of Martin Cotton's baby daughter, Siehna Cotton, and by Martin's father, Marty Cotton.

Join Redwood Curtain CopWatch in a discussion about what happened to Martin Cotton and how to connect community struggles against police brutality. Help strategize to sustain public pressure during the upcoming trial.

The killing of Cheri Lyn Moore on April 14, 2006 tragically illustrates the failures of a misguided and bureaucratized “public safety” system. In this writing we deliberately refer to Cheri Lyn Moore by her first name, as her friends and family do, and we acknowledge her as a real, feeling, dynamic human being; we want to counter the objectifying and criminalizing  references made by media and police, calling her "Moore", and devaluing her life by repeatedly describing her through only the claims made by the police who murdered her.

This is an Invite and Call To Action!

Martin "Fred" Cotton and his daughter, Siehna.