(Originally published in the Daily Collegian at UMass Amherst)

Re: “A new look at ‘Justice for Jason”
By: David P. Hoose and Luke Ryan
Posted: 9/25/08

Dear Editor:

We are the lawyers for Jason Vassell. As lawyers, we are limited in what we can say about the evidence in a pending case by our rules of professional responsibility. However, those rules do permit us to protect our client in a situation like this where substantial, undue prejudice may result from recent pre-trial publicity.

The Daily Collegian’s column by Alana Goodman on Sept. 19 contains many distortions and inaccuracies. At a minimum, the following points need to be corrected:

First, Goodman describes Jason as 5-foot-10″ and 200 pounds. In actuality, Jason is 5-foot-9″ and weighed approximately 185 pounds at the time of the incident. It is clear from the video evidence that Bosse is at least as tall as Jason and that Bowes is substantially larger.

Second, two white female UMass students who were in Jason’s first-floor dorm room describe the incident as beginning when Bosse and Bowes were observed peering into Jason’s window at 4:30 a.m. When Jason pulled the shade down and told them to leave, they began to call him a “pussy,” “nigger,” “retard,” and “bitch” and eventually smashed the window. A third white female next door was awakened by the racist taunting.

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On Monday September 22, 2008, Malcolm Chu submitted, on behalf of the Committee for Justice for Jason, a response to an op-ed that was a most irresponsible and misleading, published, apparently, without reservation, by the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Despite publishing an article which jeopardizes a current criminal trial, and the life of one of our community members, Jason Vassell, the Collegian did not find it possible to publish the following article without editorial intervention. Luckily, due to the support of a community member, we were able to purchase space in Monday’s issue to ensure that the community has accurate information on this case. Unfortunately, advertisements are not published on the collegian web site, nor accessible by internet search and therefore should be spread throughout the community by supporters.

Lastly, we encourage you to read Alana Goodman’s op-ed as well, to give proper context for this response.

An Honest Look at Justice For Jason

Author Note: After publishing what, I feel, was an inaccurate and misleading column, the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, according to policy, did not find it possible to publish this clarification in its present form, without editorial intervention. They were however, kind enough to allow us to purchase space so that the community can have accurate information on this case.

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Raffle and Benefit Silent Auction – We will be holding a silent auction to defray the cost of Jason’s defense.  The date and venue have not been finalized, but we are aiming for early November.  (Watch the website for further information.)  In the meantime, we are working hard to get the event organized.  There are several ways you can help our efforts:

1. We are soliciting donations of items to be auctioned.  If you can donate something, or if you are willing to approach someone else about donating, please let us know.  We hope to have a significant number of big-ticket items, but we’d like to offer a wide range of items so that anyone who attends will be able to afford something. 

Suggestions:

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