KPFA is Safe for Now...

jury's verdict finds Kahlil NOT GUILTY!

When Pacifica Foundation hijacked KPFA's listened-supported radio programming in the summer of 1999, thousands of listeners turned out for months of protests, in the tradition of Berkeley's Free Speech Movement decades ago. During these protests, over 100 people were arrested, including protest organizers' police liason Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi. Kahlil sits on KPFA's local advisory board, and maintains a career in teaching. All charges against those arrested were dropped--except those against Kahlil. The City of Berkeley's Mayor Shirley Dean and Chief of Police Dash Butler continue to ignore the public's request: that the Alameda County District Attorney end the malicious prosecution of Kahlil. Even the national board of Pacifica has called for two resolutions that the charges against Kahlil be dropped.

Peaceful protestors set up a makeshift camp, dubbed "Camp KPFA", outside the locked-down radio station in Berkeley during the summer protests. Camp KPFA's residents were routinely harassed, cited, and arrested by the Berkeley police, despite exercising their right to peaceful assembly. On the morning of July 21, 1999, Kahlil was arrested and falsely charged with midemeanor "resisting, obstructing, or delaying a police officer in the performance of lawful duties". He faces fines, a prison sentence, and damage to his teaching career if convicted of these fabricated charges.

What the DA doesn't want you to see:
  Cops, their Lies, and Videotape!

The morning of July 21, 1999 began with the harassment of several residents of Camp KPFA. Kahlil was acting as a liason between police and the protestors. A short time prior to his arrest, he was threatened with arrest by an officer wearing a helmet marked S31 during a dialog with the police. Bay Area Video Activist Network member Matt Dodt, an experienced individual in witnessing and documenting police activities on video, captured this threat. [AVI Video of arrest threat, 1.2MB]

(Aside: Matt Dodt, no stranger to malicious prosecution himself, recently had charges dropped against him for video witnessing a bicycle ride in August of 1999 in Berkeley.)

Shortly after, Kahlil had a conversation with Lieutenant Lopes of the Berkeley Police Department about the conflicting orders issued to Camp KPFA residents, and the police harassment of the camp members that morning. [Wave audio of conversation with Lt. Lopes, 600kb] Officer Lopes offered no helpful replies to Kahlil's questions, evading the questions, and claiming not to know basic information about police actions at an enforcement scene where he held a command position.
 

(Aside: Lt. Lopes was the event commander for a peaceful protest and march in Berkeley during December 1998. Under his command, nearly 100 Berkeley Police officers attacked the peaceful march with batons. Nick Frabisilio was one victim of this attack. It was over a year before the DA dropped the charges against Nick. He won a $30,000 settlement in his Civil Suit against the police for false arrest, and injury when police smashed his jaw with a metal baton.)

Seconds before Kahlil's arrest, after his attempts to maintain peaceful cooperation between police and Camp KPFA residents, Berkeley Police began harassing a person setting up a tent on the sidewalk. (In the video, you can already see several tents on the sidewalk.) Kahlil ran towards the location to mediate, as you can see in these following three video screen captures and video. (Kahlil is running in an olive green colored jacket with a hood, just over the right shoulder of the person in the blue Dodgers jacket.)
[JPEG with Kahlil running, 6:52:07am, frame #5,  96kb]
[JPEG with Kahlil running, 6:52:08am, frame #1,  96kb]
[JPEG with Kahlil running, 6:52:08am, frame #5,  96kb]
[AVI with Kahlil running, closeup in slow motion under the red arrow,  1.1MB]

As reported in the Berkeley Daily Planet, the DA put Sgt. Randolph Files on the stand: "Mr. (Jacobs)-Fantauzzi demanded to know why we were there and what we were intending to do," he told the court, explaining that, after some dialogue, he told Jacobs-Fantauzzi that if he didn't move, he would be arrested. "Mr. (Jacobs)-Fantauzzi was 2 1/2 to 3 feet away, a distance that makes me feel unsafe, invading my personal zone," Files said. "In an effort to de-escalate (the situation) I stepped out of Mr. (Jacobs)-Fantauzzi's way," Files told the jury, demonstrating how he stepped to the left. "Mr. (Jacobs)-Fantauzzi stepped in front of me again," he said. Then he said he told Jacobs-Fantauzzi, as he had earlier, that if he wouldn't move he would be arrested. Jacobs-Fantauzzi didn't move and Files ordered his arrest. "The whole exchange took less than - or about - one minute," he said. (Excerpted from the Berkeley Daily Planet, Friday, May 12, 2000.)

The following uncut video shows the initial arrest. A red clock timer has been added in the lower left of the video for reference. The red counter begins at 00:00, when the last visible frame showing Kahlil running towards the officers (who are walking towards the tent) stops. You will see that within 7 seconds, someone is on the ground being held down by two police. A few seconds later, it is clear that this person is Kahlil. You will hear Kahlil speaking on a megaphone "La-La-La" twice in the time he is not visible. (The same time that officer Files claims that "after some dialogue...I stepped out of [his] way.) The seven seconds in which this all happpens is not even close to the alleged "one minute" interaction, as told under oath by Sgt. Files. Kahlil's attorney Richard Krech pointed out that Sgt. Files official police report read "we took him to the ground."
[AVI of the arrest and takedown of Kahlil,  4.7MB]

Here is a longer video of the entire arrest. if you listen carefully, at no time does any officer give Kahlil a reason for his arrest, despite numerous inquiries by Kahlil while in custody, and by other witnesses.
[AVI of the entire arrest of Kahlil,  4.7MB]

Congratulations to Sgt. Files and the District Attorney for their imaginative piece of fictional testimony and false criminal charges.

Kahlil would like to thank all of his supporters, and all those who struggled so hard to save KPFA.

Important Links:

Thanks for your help!

Special thanks to Matt Dodt of the Video Activist Network for his continued support of Independent Media, and citizens' protection at First Amendment events. Freespeech supporters are free to save and repost the JPEGs, Wave Files, and AVI files linked to from this web page, provided you credit Matt Dodt and the Video Activist Network at www.videoactivism.org. (Linking to us always greatly appreciated.)

Note: in order to view the AVI videos on this site, your computer must support playback of the Intel Indeo Video R3.2 compression Codec. The audio (Wave) file is compressed with the GSM 6.10, 11025 Hz Codec.