Defense attorney Bob Boyle gives an overview of the trial: On 11/12/09, “The Great Western Massachusetts Sedition Trial: Twenty Years Later” panel was held at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of MA, Amherst (UMass). This extremely controversial event was originally planned to feature Ray Levasseur, a defendant in that trial, (at which neither he nor any other co-defendants were found guilty), and former member of a radical group that carried out politically-motivated acts of sabotage in the Northeast US in the 1970’s and 80’s and was later dubbed “the Ohio 7.” However, under intense pressure from law enforcement groups and right-wing media, the original sponsor (the UMass Libraries) cancelled. In response to what they saw as an infringement of free speech and acadmeic freedome, a group of UMass departments stepped in as sponsors and relocated the talk. The next surprise came when Levasseur’s parole commission reversed course at the last minute and denied him permission to travel from his home in Maine to the event (Levasseur it on parole after serving 18 years for his role in the bombings carried out by the radical group of which he was a member). However, event organizers regrouped and brought in other panelists: defense attorneys and jurors from the sedition trial, as well as Levasseur’s co-defendant and former wife, Pat Levasseur. Hundreds of law enforcement personnel from across the Northeast came to campus and protested the event the evening it …
Sep 01