Terrorism defendant charged second time
A protester was charged Thursday for a second time with terrorism based on statements he allegedly made on Facebook Live on May 30.
"I'm innocent. You dig what I'm saying?" Eric Christopher Ruffin said on Facebook Live Wednesday night before turning himself in at the Oklahoma County jail.
"We've got mounds and mounds of evidence," he said. "I didn't burn nothing. I didn't set nothing on fire. I didn't tell nobody to do none of that s---. You dig what I'm saying? And ... they're doing this because, I feel as if ... they want a fall person right now. ... And it's wrong. It's wrong what they're trying to do to me."
Ruffin, 26, of Oklahoma City, has a large social media following.
He is accused in the first terrorism charge of involvement in the burning of an Oklahoma County sheriff's van May 30 in Oklahoma City.
"Ultimately the vehicle was destroyed by fire along with all the equipment inside the vehicle," a sheriff's deputy reported in a court affidavit. "Eric Ruffin recorded many of the events, including the fire, as they unfolded as he produced a Facebook Live video. Ruffin encouraged this behavior multiple times in the video.
"At one point when individuals are talking about burning the vehicle or tipping it over, Ruffin lets the group know the authorities are gone and they can move in."
He is accused in the second terrorism charge of involvement in the attempted burning of CJ's Bail Bonds the same night.
Police reported in a court affidavit that while recording the vandalism of the building he "calls for a lighter."
"The group was not discussing burning the building until after this call to action," police reported. "Other people began to call for a lighter. Eric Ruffin calls for the group to burn CJ's."
At one point, he remarks CJ's is "fixing to go," police reported.
Rioters broke the windows of the business, set a shirt on fire and threw it inside, police reported. The shirt landed on the floor and burned out.
Ruffin's attorneys Thursday asked his judge to set a reasonable bail so he can be released.
A hearing on the request was set for July 10.
Bail on his first case is set at $500,000. Bail on his second case is set at $250,000.
At the courthouse Thursday to show support for Ruffin was state Rep. Ajay Pittman.
The legislator said Ruffin helped organize and get young people to attend a round-table discussion last month with Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley. Pittman was a moderator at the discussion.
"He's been involved trying to make sure people do things decently," she said. "I've witnessed it firsthand."
So far, three protesters involved in demonstrations May 30 and 31 in Oklahoma City have been charged with terrorism, six have been charged with rioting and one has been charged with assault and battery upon a police officer.
Also, five people face an incitement to riot charge over a confrontation with Oklahoma City police June 23 during the painting of a street mural.
One of the five also faces a charge of threatening an act of violence over a confrontation the next day at police headquarters.
Speakers at a rally Thursday denounced Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater for filing the terrorism and other felony charges against protesters.
"Do not call young people who are speaking up and those who are standing with Black Lives Matter lawless. And certainly don't call them terrorists. Don't ever call them terrorists," said the Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson, executive director of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City.
About 100 people attended the rally in downtown Oklahoma City on a hot morning, fewer than expected. Two held a sign reading, "NO POLITICAL PRISONERS."
"We know in Oklahoma City what terrorism is," hip- hop artist Jabee said. "And what those kids were doing is not terrorism."