Jeff Hogg is still resisting the federal grand jury. His next hearing is in Eugene Tuesday, Aug. 15, at 11:15 AM.
repression and the misuse of the grand jury!
tell Jeff what a hero he is for standing up!
Summer has sucked for Jeff Hogg, a nursing student who has been in jail since May 18. He hasn't been charged with any crime, but he was held in contempt of court by Judge Michael Hogan after refusing to testify to a federal grand jury. The feds wanted information about defendants in Operation Backfire, the string of arrests for acts of eco-sabotage that occurred over the past decade, but Hogg wouldn't talk.
Before entering the courthouse in May, Hogg made a brief statement to supporters, who were not allowed to watch the contempt proceedings. "I am being forced to choose between betraying social change movements or going to jail without committing a crime," he said. "It's not a fun choice to make, and it makes you question everything you believe in. ... But I won't be coerced by the government to give up my principles."
Hogg has now spent three months in jail  first in Lane County, then in Grants Pass  and he wants out before his planned release on Sept. 30. His attorney, Paul Loney, filed a motion for his immediate release, arguing that since Hogg will never cooperate with the grand jury, there is no coercive value for keeping him in jail. His detention becomes punitive while he has not been found guilty of anything, Loney argues.
"Mr. Hogg has made it clear that he will not cooperate," Loney said after the May court proceedings. "This is a misuse of the grand jury system. The founding fathers never intended it to be used by the government to prepare their case for trial."
According to a press release from the local Civil Rights Outreach Committee (CROC), Hogg has been "very bored" in jail and has been denied his nursing textbooks. He has not seen his friends or supporters since he was taken into custody.