MORE NEWS ON THE HATCH DAUGHTERS
Hatch daughters go on trial Wednesday
CHICAGO -- As Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch got out of his car Tuesday morning, an eight-member media mob thundered toward him. "IT'S SHOWTIME!" one photographer crowed.
But Hatch wasn't the intended quarry. The journalists were stalking his daughters, Anne and Elizabeth, who were warily climbing out of the back seat of the white Buick.
Dressed almost identically in black power suits, wearing almost identical wide-eyed, closed-mouth expressions, they flanked their father as they entered the Cook County courthouse annex for the latest chapter in a legal tempest that has landed them off and on in the eye of a Chicago media frenzy for more than a year.
Ever since the Hatches were arrested in March 2004 in an altercation with Chicago police, they have remained tight-lipped about their cases. They continued to do so Tuesday and all their father would venture was "really, no comment."
Originally, they planned to begin a jury trial Tuesday, a highly unusual procedure in criminal misdemeanor cases, but opted instead for a trial before a judge by signing forms that waived their right to a jury trial.
"There's no need to present this to a jury," said Attorney Thomas Breen, who is representing Elizabeth Bell Hatch. "I think the issues are pretty cut and dried, and I think a judge can decide."
Cook County Judge Colleen Sheehan set the trial for 11 a.m. Wednesday. Breen said it's likely the trial will be wrapped up in about two days.
Anne Hatch, 22, and Elizabeth Hatch, 23, were arrested after an early-hours scuffle with police outside the Crobar, a trendy club on Chicago's near north side where they had been celebrating Anne Hatch's birthday in March 2004.
Police allege that after the two were removed from the club, Elizabeth Hatch slapped an officer with an open hand and knocked his glasses off. Police said Anne Hatch wrestled with another officer and scratched his face and later broke a police car window.
Each woman faces misdemeanor counts of resisting a peace officer, simple battery and criminal damage to property or a vehicle.
The women were treated at a Chicago hospital for injuries they received, which included black eyes, cuts and bruises and a fractured wrist, a Hatch spokesperson has said. Mike Hatch said after the incident that his daughters were devastated and wanted to be accountable for their mistakes but that they denied having assaulted the officers.
They briefly planned to pursue a complaint of excessive force by the arresting officers, but dropped it a few days after the incident.
"It's more important to have these kids taken care of," Mike Hatch said at the time, adding: "my daughters were having a bad day."
On Tuesday, the three Hatches had to clear security along with all other defendants and court personnel. Although they were allowed to keep their reading material -- a copy of the New York Times and a couple of novels -- Mike Hatch had to surrender a tape recorder boombox that he planned to bring into the fifth-floor courtroom.
Another kind of tape, a videotape recorded at the time of the scuffle, will be entered into evidence, Breen said. Mike Hatch initially hoped that tape would help exonerate his daughters, but it shows that most of their contact with officers occurred outside the range of the club's 16 security cameras.
In the courtroom, the "Hatch sisters," as they have been dubbed by Chicago's news media, waited, occasionally whispering with their father, as a total of 20 misdemeanor cases were heard by Sheehan. Most often, they dealt with child custody, bail jumping, bond forfeiture, arrest warrants and case continuances.
When it was the Hatches' turn, they stood before the judge for just four minutes, affirming their waiver of a trial by jury and being told to be back at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
After the Hatches left the courtroom, they huddled in a nearby hallway for 15 minutes with their lawyers. Reporters again approached them, some of them still unsure which sister was which.
"Come on, you know who's who," said Cynthia Giacchetti, who is representing Anne Hatch. "No one's going to comment about anything."
After one last running of the media gantlet, firmly saying nothing, the Hatches were back in the Buick, heading north to the Loop.
Clearly visible on the rear deck behind the back seat was a baseball cap bearing the logo, "Police and Peace Officers Association." Source: Star Tribune, June 7, 2005
CHICAGO -- As Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch got out of his car Tuesday morning, an eight-member media mob thundered toward him. "IT'S SHOWTIME!" one photographer crowed.
But Hatch wasn't the intended quarry. The journalists were stalking his daughters, Anne and Elizabeth, who were warily climbing out of the back seat of the white Buick.
Dressed almost identically in black power suits, wearing almost identical wide-eyed, closed-mouth expressions, they flanked their father as they entered the Cook County courthouse annex for the latest chapter in a legal tempest that has landed them off and on in the eye of a Chicago media frenzy for more than a year.
Ever since the Hatches were arrested in March 2004 in an altercation with Chicago police, they have remained tight-lipped about their cases. They continued to do so Tuesday and all their father would venture was "really, no comment."
Originally, they planned to begin a jury trial Tuesday, a highly unusual procedure in criminal misdemeanor cases, but opted instead for a trial before a judge by signing forms that waived their right to a jury trial.
"There's no need to present this to a jury," said Attorney Thomas Breen, who is representing Elizabeth Bell Hatch. "I think the issues are pretty cut and dried, and I think a judge can decide."
Cook County Judge Colleen Sheehan set the trial for 11 a.m. Wednesday. Breen said it's likely the trial will be wrapped up in about two days.
Anne Hatch, 22, and Elizabeth Hatch, 23, were arrested after an early-hours scuffle with police outside the Crobar, a trendy club on Chicago's near north side where they had been celebrating Anne Hatch's birthday in March 2004.
Police allege that after the two were removed from the club, Elizabeth Hatch slapped an officer with an open hand and knocked his glasses off. Police said Anne Hatch wrestled with another officer and scratched his face and later broke a police car window.
Each woman faces misdemeanor counts of resisting a peace officer, simple battery and criminal damage to property or a vehicle.
The women were treated at a Chicago hospital for injuries they received, which included black eyes, cuts and bruises and a fractured wrist, a Hatch spokesperson has said. Mike Hatch said after the incident that his daughters were devastated and wanted to be accountable for their mistakes but that they denied having assaulted the officers.
They briefly planned to pursue a complaint of excessive force by the arresting officers, but dropped it a few days after the incident.
"It's more important to have these kids taken care of," Mike Hatch said at the time, adding: "my daughters were having a bad day."
On Tuesday, the three Hatches had to clear security along with all other defendants and court personnel. Although they were allowed to keep their reading material -- a copy of the New York Times and a couple of novels -- Mike Hatch had to surrender a tape recorder boombox that he planned to bring into the fifth-floor courtroom.
Another kind of tape, a videotape recorded at the time of the scuffle, will be entered into evidence, Breen said. Mike Hatch initially hoped that tape would help exonerate his daughters, but it shows that most of their contact with officers occurred outside the range of the club's 16 security cameras.
In the courtroom, the "Hatch sisters," as they have been dubbed by Chicago's news media, waited, occasionally whispering with their father, as a total of 20 misdemeanor cases were heard by Sheehan. Most often, they dealt with child custody, bail jumping, bond forfeiture, arrest warrants and case continuances.
When it was the Hatches' turn, they stood before the judge for just four minutes, affirming their waiver of a trial by jury and being told to be back at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
After the Hatches left the courtroom, they huddled in a nearby hallway for 15 minutes with their lawyers. Reporters again approached them, some of them still unsure which sister was which.
"Come on, you know who's who," said Cynthia Giacchetti, who is representing Anne Hatch. "No one's going to comment about anything."
After one last running of the media gantlet, firmly saying nothing, the Hatches were back in the Buick, heading north to the Loop.
Clearly visible on the rear deck behind the back seat was a baseball cap bearing the logo, "Police and Peace Officers Association." Source: Star Tribune, June 7, 2005
1 Comments:
I assume that you thought it was fair to talk about Rod Grams' screw-up son too, right?
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