Six acquitted in U.S. inauguration vandalism
More trials of protesters to follow
Hundreds of people, wearing all black and hiding their faces, moved through more than 16 blocks of downtown Washington on Inauguration Day. Some carried hammers, crowbars and bricks. They shattered shop windows, and by the end, there was more than US$100,000 in property damage.
Last week, the first six people to go to trial in the case were acquitted by a jury on all charges, an outcome which illustrates the challenge for Washington prosecutors who are preparing for trials of more than 150 others picked up in the Jan. 20 mass arrest.
The six acquitted defendants said they were lawfully exercising their First Amendment right to free speech, while a few from the group broke away to cause damage. Prosecutors said there was no evidence to show the six participated in the destruction, but argued the defendants made a choice to stay with the group and provide cover for those who smashed windows and toppled newspaper boxes. At one point, a prosecutor referred to the protesters as “a sea of black masks.”
It is not clear how many of the remaining defendants authorities believe they can prove participated in — or helped plan — protests aimed at vandalism.
Legal experts said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District could weigh whether to continue moving forward on the less serious cases after one jury rejected the government’s theory that the entire group of protesters bears some responsibility for the destruction.
“The message from this jury is they’re not going to convict people by a guilty by association basis,” said Preston Burton, a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and a partner at Buckley Sandler law firm who is not involved in the cases.
One 38-year-old juror, who sought to remain private and asked to not be identified, said some jurors “unloaded” during deliberations that they could not hold someone responsible for the mayhem. During the trial, the panel watched hours of video that showed the destruction and heard from employees of businesses who described their fear in those chaotic moments.
But, the juror said, the panel concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to convict the six people before them of charges of rioting and destruction of property. Their decision came after a nearly four-week trial and two full days of deliberation.
“There was a frustration across the jury that we had to watch all this video about our city being torn up and destroyed and didn’t get to punish people that deserved to be punished based on evidence,” the juror said. “I’m hoping that some of the trials down the road really get some of these people that are clearly captured on video that are breaking property.”
Prosecutors allege that a group called Disrupt J20 helped plan the protests, pulling in participants from across the country. Of more than 200 people arrested, 20 have pleaded guilty, prosecutors have dropped cases against another 20 and six were acquitted. The remainder are scheduled for trial, in groups of six or seven, through mid-2018.
The defendants have been grouped into four categories based on the type of criminal conduct allegedly attributed to them and how similar it is to that of other defendants. Those groupings are based on factors including the “level of seriousness” and “specific acts of destruction, planning/organizing of the riot, charging the police line, etc.,” prosecutors wrote in a March court filing.
Attorney Betty Ballester, who represents a defendant scheduled to go to trial in April, said prosecutors “need to decide what’s important for them” as they continue.
“We have a good history of allowing people to protest, and I think the jury really was wondering if these people were just protesting or were they rioting. There has been a distinct separation,” she said. “If somebody threw a brick through a window and it’s on video, then that’s pretty clear that’s a destruction of property and that’s not peaceful protesting.”