3/5/96

[3/5/96]

At the hearing the Secret Service once again attempted to portray Cummings as one of America's most dangerous criminals. The points Special Agent Thomas Varney focused upon were: possession of books on explosives (books published by Loompanics that are widely available), lock-picking devices (Cummings was in violation of no law by possessing these), a number of computers (hardly surprising as Cummings' job was repairing computers), his affiliation with 2600 Magazine (not a secret and not a reason to label someone a criminal), and Cummings' appearances on WBAI radio in New York (something he had every right to do and one of the only ways the general public has been able to hear about his case). Varney began to say that Ed's "followers" had "taken it upon themselves" to do something but the judge cut him off before he was able to finish. We imagine Varney and his friends have been upset by the increasing awareness of the case and that they want to blame Cummings for every piece of nasty mail they get on the subject. Fortunately, the judge didn't buy it and refused to accept their labelling of Cummings as "one step above a terrorist". Unfortunately, this wasn't reflected in the sentencing.

Judge Jack A. Panella chastised Cummings for his lousy driving record and used this to back up the allegation that he had no respect for the law. (Cummings was never involved in an accident and was never accused of driving while impaired.) The judge found some inequities on the computer printout of Cummings' driving record and he seemed to imply that Cummings was somehow responsible for this. He also implied that Cummings had something to do with the loss of a previous arrest record. Curiously enough, he never mentioned that he forced Cummings to travel a long distance every month to report to probation when he could have easily assigned him to probation in or close to Philadelphia. When Cummings asked if it might be possible to change the location since his license was suspended, Panella increased the appearances to once every two weeks.

After calling Cummings a "true wise guy" and someone who showed disrespect and no remorse for his crimes (apparently, complaining about being locked in prison for a year for possessing crystals is a sign of "no remorse"), Panella passed sentence: 6 to 24 months plus a $3,000 fine.

At this point the best case scenario is that Ed will be out on May 30 since that will mark the six month point served in county prisons (the time served last year in county prison would also be added to this). But this is by no means a guarantee, especially if the Secret Service chooses to pursue their vendetta.

One thing is for certain: the publicity is helping. We have it on good authority that the prosecution wanted to ask for even more time but felt there would be too much adverse publicity. In recent weeks there have been a number of stories around the world on radio, television, and in newspapers. Public interest has increased dramatically.

We have also learned of a very similar case that took place in Kentucky late last year where a man was accused of the same offense that Cummings was. In this instance, however, he was accused of actually selling the black box that allowed cellular phones to be cloned. This was far more than Ed was ever accused of - he merely sold kits that could be built into boxes. The man in Kentucky decided to fight the charges and he showed how there were many legitimate uses for cloned phones. In front of a jury in Kentucky, he won the case. Unfortunately, Cummings' lawyer knew nothing about this and Cummings was forced to plead guilty last year in the mistaken belief that he would never be able to convince a jury that he hadn't committed a serious crime. Had he been found innocent, there never would have been a probation violation and Ed would be free today.

Shortly after sentencing, for unknown reasons, Ed was moved to another prison. The reason listed on the transfer form was "protective custody" which, in prison terms, means a prisoner is being moved because his life may be in danger, usually because he's an informant of some sort. Since this was the furthest thing from the truth, Ed asked around to find out what the story was. It seems that he was part of a "prisoner trade" where the *other* prisoner was being transferred for protective custody. This episode put Ed at great risk for no reason. It was the second time this kind of thing has happened - at the first prison a rumor was circulated that Ed was an undercover cop. Fortunately, newspaper articles about his case convinced his fellow prisoners that this wasn't true. But these incidents show us what a serious position Ed has been put into. This is not a camp or a halfway house. This is a serious prison where people are killed for two cartons of cigarettes. We must never forget this.

[4/96]

Ed bides his time in maximum security. Visits [ http://www.inch.com/~esoteric/weekend.html ] are 2 hours long but closely supervised in a large multi-purpose room. Only three people can visit at a time. Each visitor is thorougly metal-checked and hand-stamped.

Ed should receive a visit from a parole officer sometime in April or May, but does not. His first parole interview should occur about 2 months before his earliest possible release date (5/30 or 6/4).