First Trial of Inauguration Day Protesters: Not Guilty

[L'Emmerdeur]

I stand by my previous characterization of putting people rounded up by the police during protests occurring on Trump's inauguration day on trial even though there is no evidence that the people being tried actually did anything illegal as a 'mockery of justice.' However, the outcome of the first trial is not.

'J20 protest trial latest: Anti-Trump activists found not guilty and avoid lengthy prison sentences'

Six defendants facing decades in prison for protesting Donald Trump’s inauguration have been found not guilty, in a trial that raised serious questions about First Amendment rights in the age of Trump.

A jury in Washington, DC, cleared the defendants of all seven charges against them, which included rioting and multiple counts of property destruction. The defendants were the first of nearly 200 people due to stand trial for their involvement in the 20 January protests.

Jude Ortiz, a member of the Defend J20 team that mobilised to support the defendants, called the decision “a victory for political organising”.

“The prosecutor was trying to claim political organising was conspiracy,” Mr Oritz told The Independent. ”And these acquittals show that that logic is not being bought.”

He added: “Hopefully that will send a very persuasive message to prosecutors everywhere that they’re not going to get away with criminalising protest organising.”

...

In the late morning of 20 January, DC Police surrounded and arrested more than 200 of the participants in a tactic known as kettling. Authorities claim some of the participants had broken windows, thrown chairs, and even assaulted a limousine driver, according to an indictment.

In their opening arguments, however, the prosecution conceded they had no evidence that any of the first six defendants engaged in any of the property destruction themselves. Instead, the state urged jurors to convict based on the defendant’s participation in the march itself.

“Each of them made a choice, and each of them played a role,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff told jurors of the defendants, according to the Huffington Post. “You don’t personally have to be the one who breaks the window to be guilty of rioting.”

[Brian Peacock]

Guilt by association is the common excuse for pogroms and purges.

[laklak]

Haven't had a decent pogrom in yonks. Just make sure to be carrying the pitchfork rather than riding in the tumbrel.

On a more serious note, good verdict. Free Speech is fucking Free Speech. Riots are another thing, but we let people riot all the fucking time. Nobody cares if LA burns to the ground, as long as it isn't Georgetown. It all seems to depend on who's ox is getting gored, doesn't it?

[pErvinalia]

Good. Free association 1, police state 0.

[JimC]

This sort of thing only encourages me to run riot in the streets of Melbourne, naked except for a cardigan and clutching a bottle of gin...

[Tyrannical]

There will be convictions, no evidence on those six.

Oh, and pipeline protesters are next. Blocking a federally funded highway is technically a federal crime since it interferes with interstate commerce. I expect that old law to be dusted off and used.

[pErvinalia]

Yay for the authoritarian state!