Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Last month, a number of Black Lives Matter demonstrators smashed windows and splashed red paint all over the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office during a protest against racial injustice. Now, they might be facing up to life in prison because prosecutors are adding a gang enhancement to their felony criminal mischief charges.
The Associated Press reports that prosecutors argued this week that the gang charges are justified because participants teamed up to cause thousands of dollars in property damage while protesting police brutality—and specifically,the case of 22-year-old Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, according to The Hill.
Palacios-Carbajal was fatally shot while running from Salt Lake County police officers on May 23. The county’s district attorney, Sim Gill, argued in court last month that the officers shouldn’t be charged with crimes
Comments
Madalena McNeil is accused of buying red paint before a protest. Under aggressive new criminal charges, it could mean she spends the rest of her life in prison.
McNeil, 28, was among four people charged Tuesday for their alleged actions at a July Salt Lake City, Utah, protest over a district attorney’s decision that the fatal police shooting of a young man was justified. Protesters allegedly splashed red paint on the DA’s office, broke windows, and hung signs calling for justice for the slain man.
But instead of merely charging the protesters with vandalism or even rioting, that same DA used a charging enhancement to claim they operated as a gang. Under the new charges, the demonstrators face up to life in prison. It’s the latest in a pattern of harsh measures that ratchet up potential penalties by treating protesters like a criminal conspiracy.
“I'm not scared because I think that I did anything wrong, because I know that I didn't,” McNeil told The Daily Beast. “But it would be very foolish of me to look at the potential for life in prison and not be scared. When I heard about that [the charges] I realized that in the eyes of the state, I had become an enemy for exercising what is supposed to be a protected right.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/utah-woman-madalena-mcneil-faces-life-in-prison-after-allegedly-buying-red-protest-paint?ref=home
by rmrd0000 on Fri, 08/07/2020 - 7:22pm
I had become an enemy for exercising what is supposed to be a protected right.
Of course life in prison is too harsh a punishment but she surely wasn't confused that what she did wasn't a protected right but vandalism.
by ocean-kat on Fri, 08/07/2020 - 11:05pm
Sure, police shoot someone, bad but we'll figuře it out, but *paint*, that's out of control, Gotta play smashball.
I'm against these seemingly bored protests outside federal buildings, putting up fences, throwing bottles and paint, etc. Even more so trashing a private person's store. Burning Down a courthouse? That's both dangerous Aland simply arson.
But when police can hide killings behind qualified immunity, overcharging protesters Is exactly the dickish police/AG response that's led to this unrest. These assholes can spend millions on unnecessary military equipment to fuck with citizens - they (meaning we, taxpayers) can pay a bit to clean up some goddamn paint And the mess they make. Sime dick cop took a truncheon to a peaceful Navy vet, bruised his leg, broke his hand. Where's the life in prison charge for a gang of illegal federal agents running around the streets without any official coordination with local police/government? Breonna Taylor - how tough Is it to figure out no-knocks were being abused And innocent people would be killed - but paint "vandals" Will be charged more than Killers of the innocent. Isnt that fucking stupid, Almost evil?
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 08/07/2020 - 11:55pm
Nice clarity.
Yes, we have freedom of speech and the press and that's very special.
Made me think of how we also have notably strong private property rights compared to lots of other societies and laws to protect it. To the point of that the
lord of the manortax man can't just come and take away from the peasants every thing they own every time he needs to fund something.Check out what's been going on in Lebanon, for example.
by artappraiser on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 4:56am