Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The San Francisco Examiner - February 8, 2002
Tanya Pampalone Of The Examiner Staff
During a preliminary hearing Thursday, Superior Court Judge Perker Meeks Jr. sliced the bail of AIDS activist Michael Petrelis from $500,000 to $100,000.
Bail for his cohort, David Pasquarelli, a member of ACT UP San Francisco, was reduced to $200,000 from $600,000. However, Pasquarelli's bail may again change as he is to face more charges today.
The activists were charged with 27 felony and misdemeanor counts of criminal conspiracy, stalking and making criminal threats. Petrelis and Pasquarelli were said to have made obscene and threatening telephone calls to Chronicle reporters, Department of Public Health officials and University of California, San Francisco researchers.
"It's a victory," said ACT UP SF member Todd Swindell.
"We are looking forward to getting our friends out of jail and at home with their loved ones."
A fund created by members of ACT UP SF -- the renegade group that believes HIV is not the cause of AIDS -- could be enough to spring the two by next week.
Veteran AIDS activist Michael Lauro said the bail should have been higher. Lauro is a co-founder of AIDS Activists Against Violence and Lies. It was created by local activists in response to the activities of ACT UP SF.
"I was much happier to see... that the judge decided not to reduce any of the charges from felonies to misdemeanors," Lauro said.
Mark Vermeulen, Pasquarelli's attorney, said he was encouraged by the judge's decision. "It is heartening that the first judge to see the evidence noted the political nature of the case and his concerns for the First Amendment rights of the activists," Vermeulen said.
Like Lauro, many in the local AIDS community applauded the arrest of the men, saying it was long overdue.
However, Petrelis and Pasquarelli's arrests have caused controversy in activist circles nationwide, with some signing an open letter that called the charges excessive and a threat to activism.
Those who supported the activists were concerned with District Attorney Terence Hallinan's characterization of Petrelis and Pasquarelli as terrorists. Concerns also were raised over e-mails passed between UCSF researchers which supporters said indicated a collaboration with the FBI to charge the duo with domestic terrorism. Even so, many of the activists who signed onto the letter did so with clenched teeth.
The renegade group ACT UP SF has been a thorn in the side of the AIDS community for years, mostly because of members' belief that HIV is not the cause of AIDS. Their in-your-face tactics have included dumping kitty litter on the executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, pouring blood on AIDS researchers and constantly disrupting AIDS meetings.
bE-mail Tanya Pampalone at tpampalone@sfexaminer.com
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