Interview with Jordan Halliday.
We recently did an interview with Jordan Halliday. This is pretty much the first interview we’ve ever done here, so it’s a bit short. In the coming months we’ll be doing quite a bit more of these with a wide variety of people within the vegan/animal rights/straightedge community. Thank you to Jordan for taking the time to respond.
What/Who was the catalyst that lead you to being conscious of vegansm and animal rights?
Around the age of 8, my parents enrolled me into an out of school, summer program at a local farm. I was the only kid to enroll into the program that week. While there I witnessed a mother cow give birth to a male calf. Because I had witnessed it, they honored me by naming him Jordan. I visited the farm periodically both in the program and while out of the program. One visit I immediately noticed he was missing. They refused to tell me what had happened to him. I told my parents, and they could see how upset I was. So they asked farm and were told he was sold to an animal dealer. I learned the males are either crated up for veal or sometimes sold into rodeo ‘entertainment’. That night or a night soon after during a steak dinner, my parents joked that “we could be eating Jordan”. I immediately realized the connection pushed my plate away and refused to eat meat ever again and I have stayed true to that promise. Learning a couple years later about the horrors of the egg and dairy industries as well, and realizing the hypocrisy of being a “vegetarian animal lover” who still consumes bi-products. I chose to become vegan almost overnight and have been since.
As far as Animal Rights goes, I contribute a lot of my involvement to talks with my brother-in-law.
What was your initial reaction when you were first served with the subpoena to appear before a Grand Jury?
Six months prior during the summer of raids on local mink farms, the FBI decided to do some ‘investigating’. They visited my parents’ house asking my dad questions and eventually getting my place of work and current residence at the time from him. That incident is why I advocate that we inform all our non-activist friends and families about their rights when dealing with law enforcement. A day or so after visiting my parents’ house, they came to my work. I told them to leave and they warned me that I would face a subpoena to a federal grand jury if I didn’t cooperate. Six months later they followed through with that promise. So, I would have to say my first reaction was… “Them again”. I do admit I was surprised that they followed through. Usually, intimidation and harassment from law enforcement towards activists never goes further than the initial intimidation. I took a break and called the National Lawyers Guild, who eventually put me in touch with an attorney.
For the sake of anyone who isn’t familiar with GJ’s, can you describe briefly what they are in general terms as well as your personal experience with the one you were called into?
A federal grand jury was originally used to determine whether someone should by charged/indicted with a crime. The grand jury uses subpoenas to gather ‘evidence’ and to call ‘witnesses’ to testify, as was my case. It is made up of 16-23 jurors who are called to serve in the same way a citizen is called for regular jury duty. The difference is these jurors are selected by the prosecution and not screened for bias. Another difference is a grand jury does not determine if a suspect is innocent or guilty, but rather determines if there is enough evidence to prosecute. The whole proceeding is held in secret. There is a court reporter and 3 forepersons who are grand jurors that mediate when the prosecution isn’t. The prosecutor is present and runs the affair, however there is no judge and defense attorneys are not allowed inside the grand jury room. Anything said inside the grand jury room is considered sealed and not available to the public, this includes transcripts. Because of this secrecy and the ability to subpoena almost anyone or anything with no necessary evidence, it has more recently been used as a tactic by the government to harass and intimidate political movements.
I refused to cooperate with the grand jury as a way of protesting its broad abusive powers. In total I went in front of the grand jury 3 separate times. The first time, I presented a motion pro se (on my own without a lawyer) that the subpoena I was given was deficient and that it wasn’t properly filled out and therefore wasn’t valid. I refused to answer any questions. Simply saying “no comment” to every question asked. I was nervous, I noticed I was staring out the window a lot and drumming on the podium in front of me. I was asked mainly questions about my friends and my family.
I was released and a week later served with another subpoena when 7 FBI agents and the United States Deputy Marshal visited my work and insured that the subpoena was properly filled out. I returned to the grand jury and continued with my “no comment” response as a form of civil disobedience against the grand jury system. A judge was then called to the grand jury room and I was ordered that unless I provided a valid privilege I would be held in contempt if I continued to refuse to cooperate. After this I began to invoke my 5th amendment right against self-incrimination. This grand jury was more personal and focused a lot more on my family from what I remember. I believe it was the prosecutions attempt at getting under my skin. I was dismissed again, but this time I was called to a contempt of court hearing. I was eventually sent to the Salt Lake County Jail under civil contempt of court.
While in jail I was subpoenaed to the last grand jury I attended. At this grand jury, I asked to talk with my lawyer and was refused the right to talk to my lawyer in private. I was in the custody of the United States Marshals and they refused to let me out of their sights, even to have a private talk with my lawyer. The prosecutor decided to dismiss the grand jury and I was sent back to jail and transferred to a Federal Holding Facility for 4 months until the term of the grand jury expired.
What is the current status of your case and what are you having to deal right now in terms of having to fight it?
After being released I was charged with Criminal contempt of court. I am only the 3rd known person in the history of the United States to be charged criminally after already serving time civilly for the same act of recalcitrance. The other 2 cases, which were decades ago, also involved political activists. I eventually took a non-cooperating plea deal and was sentenced to 10 months under the guideline range for “obstruction of justice” (because of the rarity of my charge, it does not have its own guideline range). We are currently appealing the range asking that it be dropped to the range of “failure to appear” which is 0-6 months. We recently went to the appeals court in Denver, Colorado. We felt that there was major hostility from the judges from the beginning and our optimism was quickly squashed. In talking with the lawyers we determined that there was only a small chance I would win the appeal and unfortunately a 96% chance that I would be serving time and to prepare for the worst, which is 10 months in a federal prison. It usually takes 3-6 months to rule on an appeal. We are expecting a ruling sometime during or after February 2012.
What have you been up to since your release?
Under my current court ordered conditions of release. I was required to “acquire and maintain employment (excluding employment in the tattoo industry)”. “Avoid political demonstrations”, and ordered “not to leave the state”. I was also told to “not associate with ELF, ALF, or VSE animal liberation groups or members”. Because of some of those conditions I have mainly been forced to stick to one-on-one and Internet activism and work a minimum wage retail job. I also recently started a joke hardcore band which will hopefully be playing a one time benefit show sometime in January or February 2012.
you should add a link to Jordan’s support page which is http://supportjordan.com i think.
Good point. Sorry for the oversight on my part. Thank you for the link.
Nov04mighty how ridiculous, let them send real nilmrcais to prison, but Oh no killers, basterds wwhatever get charged, and they let them out again, but a guy who is fighting for animal rights, they throw in prisonjesus where is justice and clear thinking judges ?????????????????????????????
Wow, what a great website, and what wenuorfdl videos! You certainly are an inspiration! I also found your site through vegan.com, and will definitely subscribe. While I have been vegan for years, I am always looking for new and clever ideas to help friends and family think about what they are eating. While none are vegan (yet . . .) I definitely have them all eating healthier. Future ideas if you don’t grow any of your own veggies, please give it a try! Or inspire others to plant some. A container with one tomato plant is a great start. I am in South Florida, so I tend to have a garden year round. There are several months of the year I don’t have to buy any salad goodies, I just have to go pick them. Talk about saving money on your food bill. Anyway, thanks again for taking time to make a difference. Oh and I love your eco sneaks from a couple episodes back!
I was required to “acquire and maintain employment (excluding employment in the tattoo industry)”
???
He wasn’t allowed to work in the tattoo industry because it is a “hangout for vegan and straightedge terrorists, where they go to get their beliefs forever embedded on their bodies”… a quote from the prosecutor. Not verbatim but damn close.
This is years and years late, but I just wanted to eprxess my appreciation for this article and for this site in general. I’m very passionate about feminism, human rights, the environment, and animal welfare, so finding this site last week was spectacular. I especially appreciated this article because I’m what I used to call a half vegan. I don’t eat meat at all and try to stay away from dairy, eggs and other animal products, like leather, wool, or gelatin. For both health and financial reasons, this isn’t 100% effective, meaning I occasionally (as in very, very rarely ) have to buy free range eggs or cheese from local places I trust. I’m also okay with keeping old leather/wool items from before I was vegan, or purchasing them at a thrift store (maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see this as a direct contribution to institutions that harm animals). So I know I’m not a typical vegan, but it’s good to have someone describe what being vegan means and how each vegan is different. So I may be five years late to the party, but thanks.
Glad to read this blog! Keep it going!
A little late, but yeah, you should add a link to Jordan’s support website, which is http://www.supportjordan.org
thanks!
http://www.supportjordan.org
That’s funny cuz i have been putting tegethor a post in my head about my own definition of vegan. I’ll post something soon. What got me started was when someone asked if i was vegan for health reasons. You’d think i’d be used to the question after hearing if for eight and half years, but out of nowhere my response was i don’t think you can be vegan for health reasons . What i meant was that, for me, veganism is a selfless act of compassion that extends from a desire to end oppressive systems. And vegan for health reasons just seems so arrogant and self-centered that it couldn’t possibly include a defition of social justice. I began wondering if we needed a new word (like the so-called octo-lacto-vegetarians) for vegans for health reasons. We shouldn’t forget the story of the word vegetarian either. Until recently, vegetarian meant what we call vegan today. It was only when folks started getting a little weak with their principles that it was decided to create a new word to distinguish those of us that don’t make excuses. I sound a little hardline, huh?I like saying that veganism is a diet. Because diet, if you look at its root, means way of life . For me, i’m creating a compassionate way of life where my actions are not malaligned with my principles. And if we look at it that way can it ever be just a diet ?Oh, and i pronounce it v-gun Ever since some friends and i did some really fun anti-fur street theater with some cardboard guns that had written on the side v-gun i haven’t been able to get it out of my head. Thanks for the post. I’ll be including it in the Carnival!
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[...] yesterday Jordan Halliday was taken into custody on an apparent bail violation for conducting an interview with vegan and straight edge clothing company Motive. Halliday’s bail conditions require he “not associate with ELF, ALF, or vegan [...]