During the campaign to save the deer in Shawnee Mission Park (aka Death Park), the director of the parks department sought and attained a TRO (temporary restraining order) against me as a means of crippling my relentless activism. This tactic is commonly employed by exploiters around the country, as TRO's (also known as orders of protection or stalking orders) are easy to obtain and carry criminal penalties if one violates them. I wound up on a year's probation as a result of this TRO and an unintended violation of the TRO on my part. Probation may not sound like much, but it puts an activist with family and financial responsibilities in a bit of a precarious position, as additional arrests can result in revocation of the probation and twelve months in county.
A number of activists whom I know around the country have been hit with TRO's in this disturbing abuse of a law that was intended to protect innocent individuals from potentially dangerous stalkers, not animal exploiters from Animal Rights activists merely exercising their First Amendment rights. As a result of these TRO's, some of my activist allies have been arrested and some have been jailed. Nearly all of them were restricted from engaging in Constitutionally-protected forms of activism.
I'm currently fighting three TRO's from vivisectors (animal researchers) at the University of Kansas Medical Center who attained the temporary orders of protection based on allegations that either don't rise to the level of stalking or are false. Both sides have procured counsel and Judge Phelan of the Johnson County District Court has set aside an entire day on November 30th for the hearing during which he'll determine whether or not to establish the orders as "permanent" (generally meaning for one year). Most cases of this nature involve domestic abuse and are over within about 5 minutes, but the complex and unusual nature of this situation has necessitated an extensive hearing.
Tim Keck, the vivisectors' attorney will be presenting witnesses who will allegedly substantiate the claims of stalking that the three animal exploiting vivisectors have leveled against me.
My attorney, David Bell of Wyrsch, Hobbs, and Mirakian, has prepared a thorough and compelling legal brief, which asserts and substantiates our argument that shackling activists with TRO's is clearly a violation of the First Amendment.
For more on this First Amendment battle and to read Bell's brief in its entirety, click on this link:
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