cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/47230241
Three Washington state protesters have been found guilty of federal conspiracy charges for sitting in front of a bus taking people to an immigration detention center in Tacoma.
Jac Archer, Justice Forral, and Bajun Mavalwalla II were three of a group of nine people who were arrested last June after responding to former City Council President Ben Stuckart’s request for protesters to block a bus from taking immigrants from one ICE detention center to another.
Six of the nine arrested accepted plea deals, while Archer, Forral, and Mavalwalla took their case to trial, where a jury found them guilty of “conspiracy to impede or injure officers.”
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Mavalwalla, a combat veteran, and Forral and Archer, both activists, now face a maximum sentence of six years in federal prison or up to $250,000 in fines. Their attorneys said they intend to appeal the decision.
GD. Fucking ridiculous that planning to sit in a road carries the same penalty as planning an all out hit on an officer.
It’s absurd that “impede or injure” can be the same charge.
If the penalty for sitting in front of a bus is the same penalty as bodily injuring them, then well…