from Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands
Following over a month inside the Ingham County Jail after a guilty verdict by a jury, the MICATS 3 were sentenced to 13 months probation by Circuit Judge William Collette
“Though my heart aches for moments I will miss, I regret nothing,” wrote Lisa Leggio from her cell in Ingham County Jail while awaiting sentencing.
This afternoon, Leggio, and her fellow MICATS members Barbara Carter and Vicci Hamlin were sentenced to 13 months probation and $45,000 in restitution to the police. Over 100 supporters packed the tension filled courtroom where Judge William Collette of Ingham County presides. Though the defendants were surrounded by the love of their families and friends throughout the trial and sentencing, we recognize that this is not the case for most people who are forced by circumstance to interact with the justice system. The prison-industrial complex is a reality of life for so many folks who have been disenfranchised by the capitalist system from the start, and we hope that the sentencing of the MICATS 3 will only serve to highlight the struggles of those for whom community support and opportunities were never possibilities.
Despite what has happened to Hamlin, Leggio, and Carter, supporters with the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands vow to continue to take strong action against Enbridge and exploitative industry.
“The sentencing of our friends only deepens our resolve,” said one MICATS supporter. “All around the world, corporations like Enbridge are getting away with murder in the name of profit. While it may not look like a gun to a head, it smells like a refinery spewing cancer-causing chemicals into the air, it looks like the poisoning of water, and the eradication and forced assimilation of cultures and ecosystems everywhere. The profit-above-all-else paradigm is killing people and the natural world, and we will not be intimidated by the bullying of the state in collusion with industry. We will fight back.”
Similar sentiment has been expressed by a steadfast Hamlin, from her jail cell while awaiting sentencing.
“I have no regrets and know I was born for this time and place. We all were, and each person has a purpose and a destiny to fulfill. I just said, ‘yes, I will,’” she said.
The Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MICATS) seeks to unite the people of Michigan towards a common goal of stopping all transportation and refining of tar sands oil in the state and advocating against the production/transportation of tar sands everywhere.