Shareef Aleem speaks on his victory

Shareef Aleem WW photo: Larry Hales

The multinational jury in the trial of Shareef Aleem came back with a not guilty verdict on Feb. 5. Aleem, his family and his supporters packing the courtroom celebrated the end of a torturous, two-year battle.

Aleem was being tried for second degree aggravated assault on a cop, stemming from an incident at the Colorado University Board of Regents on Feb. 3, 2005, where he was attacked by police after defending students’ rights to free speech. He faced a minimum of four years in prison.

Workers World’s Larry Hales was able to interview Aleem about the victory after a rally for Emily Rae Rice, called for by the young woman’s family. Rice was a 24-year-old woman who was involved in a traffic accident but denied treatment at the hospital to which she was taken and instead transferred to the Denver City Jail. Rice had several severe injuries—a lacerated liver, ruptured spleen and several broken ribs—and pleaded for help as she lay in her jail cell. She was later found dead in the cell.

Rice’s parents have filed an intent to sue the city and county of Denver for wrongful death and violating Rice’s civil rights. The rally and vigil marked the one-year anniversary of Rice’s death, which protesters blame on the actions of medical professionals, the Denver Police Department and sheriffs at the Denver City Jail.

Shareef Aleem was one of many vocal supporters of the family at the rally and vigil on Feb. 18.

Shareef Aleem: I just wanted a fair jury, a real jury of my peers, and I was confident that if I had that I’d be found not guilty. The last trial the jurors were all white and only one woman held out. I heard that the rest of the jurors had made their decision in 15 minutes, but this one woman wouldn’t be bullied and she held out and after four-and-a-half [hours] they came back.

LH: How long did the jury deliberate this time?

SA: They deliberated for five-and-a-half hours on Thursday [Feb. 1] and one-and-a-half hours on Monday morning [Feb. 5].

LH: Every trial is inherently political, but do you think this one seemed overtly political this time around? It seemed less so than the last trial.

SA: Man, this trial was political from the beginning. The jury questioning was biased. The prosecution tried to impeach witnesses for their political beliefs and went as far as to pull up articles and papers people had written. One of the witnesses had run for public office and the prosecution called into question their stance on the Iraq war and on 9/11. I had good attorneys though, and I thank Mark Burton and Tom Carberry.

The prosecution had no case against me. The only evidence they had was an edited tape from Channel 9 news and they used it to make me look bad, but there are other tapes of what happened at the Board of Regents meeting. I liked the football analogy that Mark Burton used, that something may look different from one angle than another. The prosecution was using their tape because it was a bad angle, but I was sure the jury would see that I didn’t attack anybody. I fell. The cop was talking about injuries from the fall, but they couldn’t produce any evidence of an injury, not a doctor’s excuse, nothing. He didn’t even miss a day of work.

LH: Did you have a lot of support during the trial?

SA: A lot of people came out. My side of the courtroom was full every day.

LH: What are you going to do now that this burden has been lifted?

SA: I’m gonna keep fighting for freedom, justice and equality and an end to this white supremacist system. I’m gonna keep working with Communities United Against Police Brutality, Aurora and Denver CopWatch, and I’m gonna keep doing my radio show at KGNU, the Tuesday Metro show on 1390 AM in Denver at noon. That show is the only broadcast voice for oppressed people in the Metro area. I might go back to school too. I want to further my education.