{"id":28943,"date":"2017-12-17T14:31:28","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T19:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=28943"},"modified":"2017-12-17T14:31:28","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T19:31:28","slug":"j20-defendants-await-verdict-in-the-first-test-of-government-attempt-to-criminalize-protest-group-as-a-whole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=28943","title":{"rendered":"J20 Defendants Await Verdict In the First Test of Government Attempt to Criminalize Protest Group As a Whole"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: Jewel Samad\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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J20 DEFENDANTS AWAIT VERDICT IN FIRST TEST OF GOVERNMENT ATTEMPT TO CRIMINALIZE PROTEST GROUP AS A WHOLE<\/a><\/h3>\n
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IT\u2019S BEEN A BLEAK<\/u> year for the 194 protestors, medics, and journalists facing multiple felony charges stemming from their arrest<\/a> surrounding Donald Trump\u2019s presidential inauguration on January 20, 2017. Vilified by much of the mainstream press and largely ignored by the liberal \u201cResistance\u201d movement, the J20 defendants \u2014 as they\u2019re collectively known \u2014 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<\/a> the \u201cinciting a riot\u201d charge, a felony with a maximum ten year sentence.<\/p>\n

Despite throwing out the incitement charges, Leibovitz declined to acquit the defendants on seven other charges, including five counts of felony property destruction, misdemeanor rioting, and misdemeanor conspiracy to riot. Those charges together carry a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long month for these six defendants and their supporters. We\u2019re nervous, obviously, but we\u2019re resolute.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long month for these six defendants and their supporters,\u201d said Sam Menefee-Libey of the\u00a0Dead City Legal Posse, a group that organizes support and advocates for the J20 defendants. \u201cWe\u2019re nervous, obviously, but we\u2019re resolute. And the feeling of solidarity amongst everyone is powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the acquittal means for the remaining 188 defendants is not yet clear. Prosecutors may have stronger evidence of incitement against other protestors, especially those who planned the action or who issued directions during the march. (Some of the organizers will go on trial early next year.)\u00a0But this first failure is indicative of a larger problem with the government\u2019s case: a lack of individualized evidence against the majority of those arrested.<\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Jewel Samad\/AFP\/Getty Images J20 DEFENDANTS AWAIT VERDICT IN FIRST TEST OF GOVERNMENT ATTEMPT TO CRIMINALIZE PROTEST GROUP AS A WHOLE IT\u2019S BEEN A BLEAK year for the 194 protestors, medics, and journalists facing multiple felony charges stemming from their arrest surrounding Donald Trump\u2019s presidential inauguration on January 20, 2017. Vilified by much of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14914,379,657,17545,5567],"class_list":["post-28943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","tag-criminalization","tag-government","tag-protests","tag-sam-adler-bell","tag-the-intercept"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28944,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28943\/revisions\/28944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}