Resist J20

Controversial Inauguration Protest Prosecution Ends In Not Guilty Verdicts

December 22, 2017 Ryan J. Reilly, Huffingtonpost.com Resist! Court, Protests, Repression, Resist J20

All six defendants in a crucial trial involving demonstrators arrested during President Donald Trump’s inauguration were found not guilty of all charges on Thursday. The trial of the six defendants ― Jennifer Armento, Oliver Harris, Brittne Lawson, Michelle Macchio, Christina Simmons and Alexei Wood ― began in mid-November. It raised major First Amendment issues and was seen as a bellwether that could determine whether the government will proceed with the prosecutions of many of the nearly 200 other defendants who have trials scheduled throughout the next year. Despite Thursday’s verdict, Justice Department prosecutors appeared ready to take all of the remaining defendants to trial. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia believes that the evidence shows that a riot occurred on January 20, 2017...

DC Jury Acquits Six Inauguration Day Defendants on All Counts

December 21, 2017 Defend J20 Resistance Resist! Donald Trump, Inauguration Day, Resist J20

After two days of deliberation, a DC jury today found all six Inauguration Day defendants not guilty on all eight counts—-misdemeanor rioting and conspiracy to riot, and five counts of felony property destruction. The government still intends to try the remaining 188 Inauguration Day defendants on similar riot-related charges, but supporters are calling on the Trump administration to dismiss all of those charges. “This is a clear victory for the six defendants who were just tried and a rejection of the government’s attempt to criminalize dissent,” said Betty Rothstein of Defend J20 Resistance. “We’re continuing to call on the Trump administration to dismiss all charges against the remaining 188 Inauguration Day defendants awaiting trial.”

Gov Attempting To Criminalize J20 Protest Group As A Whole

December 18, 2017 By Sam Adler-Bell Educate! Courts, Protests, Repression, Resist J20

IT’S BEEN A BLEAK year for the 194 protesters, medics, and journalists facing multiple felony charges stemming from their arrest surrounding Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on January 20, 2017. Vilified by much of the mainstream press and largely ignored by the liberal “Resistance” movement, the J20 defendants — as they’re collectively known — have huddled around each other and their tight network of supporters. On Friday, a jury began deliberations in the first J20 trial, of six defendants, on a raft of counts; a verdict could come as soon as Monday. Last Wednesday, however, there was a rare glimmer of hope: Before closing arguments, Judge Lynn Leibovitz of the D.C. Superior Court threw out the “inciting a riot” charge, a felony with a maximum ten year sentence.

Judge In J20 Case Drops Inciting Riot Charge

December 15, 2017 Baynard Woods, therealnews.com Educate! Courts, Journalism, Protests, Resist J20

The judge in the trial of six of the 193 people to face decades in prison under the federal Riot Act for protesting on Inauguration Day, dismissed one of the most serious charges Wednesday. Judge Lynn Leibovitz noted that “personal enthusiasm” for destruction is different than incitement. She refused to throw out the remaining charges, however, leaving the jury to decide whether those who were present at a protest should be held responsible for any destruction of property that happens there. Alexei Wood, a journalist, is among the six people whose fate will not be determined by a jury. The government has been using a livestream video taken by Wood as part of its evidence against protesters.

J20 Prosecution: The Future Of Free Speech

December 12, 2017 Ryan J. Reilly, huffingtonpost.com Resist! Freedom of Speech, Investigation, Resist J20

WASHINGTON ― Justice Department prosecutor Jennifer Kerkhoff carried the cardboard evidence box past the jury and placed it next to Officer Andre Reid, the 14-year veteran of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department seated in the witness stand. Snapping on blue medical gloves inside this downtown courtroom, she took out a JanSport backpack ― the government’s exhibit number 43 ― and began removing its contents: two sharpies, a pencil, a pen, a Florida driver’s license, green goggles, a black bandana, black gloves, sunglasses, an energy drink, a phone charger with a cord, and a black hat. As jurors looked on, Kerkhoff and Reid examined a mask. “Have you ever heard of the term ‘balaclava’?” Kerkhoff asked? Reid hadn’t. He called it a ski mask. They took a look at a plastic bag containing two bandanas soaked in some mysterious “solution” that had a smell to it. “Can you smell that now?” Kerkhoff asked. Reid could. The JanSport in question belongs to Michelle Macchio, a 26-year-old from Naples who hasn’t had possession of the bag or its contents in nearly 11 months, ever since she was caught up in a mass arrest during a protest just before President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

J20 Officer Bizarrely Slanders Black Neighborhood In Testimony

December 11, 2017 Alan Pyke, thinkprogress.org Educate! Investigation, Police, Racism, Resist J20

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Officer Michael Howden was supposed to help federal prosecutors establish that the group of protesters they want jailed for decades were assaulting cops wantonly the day President Donald Trump took his oath. But on cross-examination, Howden quickly grew heated as defense attorneys showed him clips of himself saying things he claimed not to remember saying on Inauguration Day. In one of them, Howden said that herding anti-Trump marchers was nothing new for him. “I’m fairly accustomed to that sort of rioting,” Howden is heard saying to another officer in a clip from Howden’s own body-worn camera footage from January 20. “Herding people through Barry Farm when they’re rioting, when they’re out of control,” he continued in the clip. Barry Farm, anonymous to most anyone outside the Washington, D.C., area and even to many who live here, is a public housing development in the Anacostia area of the District. It lies in the Metropolitan Police Department’s 7th District, where Howden is typically assigned — and where MPD’s use of “jump-out” tactics and aggressive stop-and-frisk searches of civilians has drawn public scorn and official sanction in recent years.

#COINTELPRO: Disrupting Resistance Movements In The Digital Age

November 28, 2017 Tasha Moro, www.nlg.org Strategize! COINTELPRO, Inauguration Day, Resist J20, Trump

By Tasha Moro for the National Lawyers Guild. Trials began last week in the historic prosecution of nearly 200 “J20” defendants indiscriminately arrested en masse during protests against Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DC, each facing more than 60 years in prison on rioting and property damage charges. In an affront to the First and Fourth Amendments, federal prosecutors seized more than 100 cell phones and obtained warrants for information of all visitors to the disruptj20.org website and those who “liked” their page on Facebook, among other personal social media data of organizers and participants. In contrast, law enforcement’s laissez-faire attitude during August’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA allowed white supremacists with guns, tiki torches, and Nazi flags to spew racial slurs and hate throughout the city for two entire days, culminating in the murder of anti-racist activist Heather Heyer on August 12.

Our Streets: The Story from the Front Lines & How We Fight

January 26, 2017 Eleanor Goldfield, www.Occupy.com/ActOut Strategize! Black Bloc, Donald Trump, Inauguration, Militarized police, Police violence, Resist J20

By Eleanor Goldfield for ACT Out. Yawn points out that condemning black bloc tactics divides us and that we should not limit ourselves to only permitted protests. He asks: what violence would have to be done to you before you fight back? Is that being done to others in our country? Is it being done by the United States to others around the world? With these questions in mind he points out that opposing black bloc tactics comes from a place of privilege, the privilege of not suffering violence at the hand of the state. Yawn describes how tactics must be analyzed in the context of the situation and the goals of the protest.

Journalists & Dissent Under Attack In The United States

January 25, 2017 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Black Bloc, Criminal Justice, Inauguration, Media, Resist J20

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. When we discussed these specific arrests with Chris Hedges over email his view was "This is just the start." On our radio show, Hedges described how cowering the media is a key part of silencing dissent. If the media is not there to cover the mistreatment of protesters, then law enforcement will become even more abusive. Reporters Without Borders described the media as "Public Enemy Number One for the Trump administration," writing it is "alarmed by the new administration’s repeated attacks on the media and blatant disregard for facts in the first three days of Donald Trump’s presidency. . . In the first 72 hours since the 45th President of the United States took his oath of office, his administration has executed a coordinated attack on the media and demonstrated a clear disregard for facts." Margaux Ewen, Advocacy and Communications Director for RSF North America, said: It is clear that Trump views the media as his number one enemy and is taking every single opportunity to try to weaken their credibility.

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