TWO PEOPLE ACCUSED OF DISRUPTING CIA RECRUITING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS IN AMHERST HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO PERFORM 15 HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE WORK OR PAY $50 IN COURT COSTS.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200780012-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: March 15, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/17: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200780012-4
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
15 March 1985
NORTHAMPTON, MA
Two people accused of disrupting CIA recruiting at the University of
Massachusetts in Amherst have been ordered to perform 15 hours of community
service work or pay $50 in court costs.
District Judge Alvertus J. Morse found sufficient facts Thursday for a guilty
finding on trespassing charges against Perry Amsellem, 27, of Northampton, and
Lisa Sheehy, 25, of Amherst, in a five-hour trial.
Morse continued the case without a finding for six months and said the
charges would be dismissed if they paid court costs or performed public service
work and stayed out of trouble.
Amsellem and Sheehy were arrested Nov. 5 when they walked into a campus
placement office while students were being interviewed and refused to leave.
They were protesting CIA involvement in Central America.
About 150 people picketed outside the courthouse before the proceedings in
support and packed the courtroom during the trial.
Amsellem and Sheehy, acting as their own attorneys, argued international law
required that they bring attention to CIA acitivities, and that their actions
were protected by their freedom of speech.
"I feel is it my obligation as a citizen of this country to stop my
government for acts so heinous that they're on a Level with Nazi war crimes,"
said Amsellem.
They called four witnesses to testify about CIA activities and
international law,
But Assistant District Attorney Rosemary Tarantino said the students should
have left when asked by police, and had violated the rights of the students
trying to be interviewed.
''The defendants have a right to speak as long as they're not interfering
with interviews,'' she said. ''Throughout this process, they infringed upon
someone else's First Amendment rights.'Morse agreed.
' 'They had a right to raise their voice and talk to the CIA, " he said.
'But there's a point when you have to say, 'All right, you've had your time.
Amsellem and Sheehy called as witnesses Richard Falk, a Princeton University
international law professor, Ralph Mcre*t+ee, a former CIA agent, Joy Hackel of
the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, and Lou Wolf, co-editor of the
Covert Action Information Bulletin.
STAT
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/17: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200780012-4