An offense to free speech
The criminal justice system in Saratoga Springs and Saratoga County seemed unusually determined to give Lexis Figuereo a criminal record. How far it was willing to go came in a chilling revelation this week.
The local Black Lives Matter leader posed such a danger to society, remember, that police didn’t even bother to arrest him for two months after he allegedly committed the crimes they accused him of. Yet now we learn that his phone, confiscated by city police, had been sent to the FBI, apparently for forensic analysis, according to his attorney, who would like to know why.
So should we all. This dogged — one might say rabid — pursuit of a social justice activist ought to deeply trouble anyone who cherishes the rights of free speech, peaceful assembly, and petitioning government for a redress of grievances. And those are just the First Amendment concerns here. There’s also the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the requirement that authorities have a reasonable basis to search through people’s things — not a pretense like a misdemeanor arrest to go on a fishing expedition.
All this started with a July 14 rally in Saratoga Springs, for which Mr. Figuereo and others were arrested only months later — for offenses that normally would merit an appearance ticket. It followed then-assistant Chief John Catone’s threat weeks earlier, in a June 28 press conference, where he complained about criticism of police and declared, “... I will, on my final eight months on the job, pull out every single connection my family has made over the last 130 years and I will stop your narrative.”
Police were cagey about Mr. Figuereo’s phone, at first saying it had been taken for evidence, then, months later in March, saying they didn’t have it, then returning it to him on April 14 — in an FBI evidence bag dated Oct. 28.
What the FBI was doing with the phone all that time isn’t clear.
Meanwhile, the charges against him disappeared: The misdemeanors were dismissed by city Judge Francine Vero on April 15 for not being supported by the evidence, and the disorderly conduct violation was dropped last week by Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen, supposedly in part because of some “larger investigation by an outside agency.” More intimidation? Who knows.
We may yet get an answer to that and other questions from Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation of city police for their treatment of protesters. And we may see fewer of these tactics under a new city Public Safety commissioner, James Montagnino, who has promised to build better police-community relations.
Clearly, he has work to do. This treatment was meant to shut up Mr. Figuereo and other protesters who had the temerity to criticize the treatment of Black people by police. Their real offense was to offend the sensibilities of those in power who prefer not to hear criticism about how they wield it. And how they wielded it has only validated — and multiplied – grievances that must be redressed.