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By Guy Page
Political candidates, both incumbents and hopefuls, are lining up in opposition to Attorney General Charity Clark’s decision to charge the ‘Williston 13’ anti-ICE protesters with trespassing. The protesters pleaded innocent in Vermont Superior Court last week to trespass during a July protest at the ICE National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center in Williston.
Clark said she’s just upholding the law and that her personal political preferences are clearly on the side of the trespassers.
“I myself have literally protested at an ICE facility in Williston,” Clark said in interview statements reported Friday, September 24 by Vermont Public. “At the same time, I am a prosecutor bound by the Constitution, and I always have to do the constitutional thing, even if it’s not politically popular.”
Clark would not say whether she would send the cases to diversion, which is common for lower-level charges and first-time offenses.
After Clark’s decision went public, at least two Chittenden County Senate candidates spoke out against it, as did Burlington Mayor Emma-Mulvaney Stanak and Treasurer Michael Pieciak.
Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale issued this statement Friday:
“I am deeply disappointed by the decision to prosecute 13 Vermonters for peaceful civil disobedience at the ICE surveillance facility in Williston. At a moment when the federal government is escalating attacks on immigrants and our civil liberties, Vermont should not be using its prosecutorial power in ways that chill free speech and peaceful dissent.
“I am especially concerned that the Attorney General’s Office attempted to charge an 18-year-old as an adult, which would have been out of alignment with our statute and could set a troubling example far beyond Vermont. These prosecutions are already making people think twice about exercising their right to protest when we need their voices most.
“Our courts are already backlogged with real threats to public safety, and this is not what our top prosecutor should be prioritizing. There is still time to change course, and I urge the Attorney General’s Office to dismiss these charges.”
Democrat Chittenden Central Senate candidate Nikhil Goyal wrote on his Facebook page that “Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark is prosecuting thirteen individuals who peacefully protested the ICE surveillance facility in Williston. Two of the individuals are hopeful constituents of mine, including Linda Ayer. This is who the AG is choosing to prosecute. I stand with Linda and the Williston 13. AG Clark has the power to drop the charges. I hope she listens. I’ve reached out to her office and haven’t heard back.”
Burlington Mayor Emily Mulvaney Stanak:
“The Vermont Attorney General’s decision to prosecute peaceful protesters is deeply disappointing. Non-violent civil disobedience has a long and important history in Vermont and in our country for political action and disrupting charm caused by institutions, including the government.
“I grew up in a family that engaged in community organization and actively participated in civil disobedience against war, militarization and nuclear proliferation. I am proud of that legacy. At a time when ICE is terrorizing communities across the country, I understand the desire of members of our community to take a stand and I commend them for doing so peacefully. Prosecuting the conduct of the 13 protesters does not make us safer, nor is it a good use of limited public resources. I call on Attorney General Clark to dismiss the charges for the protesters.”
Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak
“I was surprised to learn the Attorney General decided to prosecute the 13 peaceful protestors arrested at the ICE facility in Williston.
“I disagree with this decision to prosecute Vermonters for peacefully exercising their first amendment rights in the face of serious injustices against our immigrant neighbors.
“Prosecutors have discretion over which cases to charge. They regularly choose not to charge cases in the interests of justice or to preserve scarce government resources. It is clear to me that pursuing this case will not bring justice to our communities and is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
“These protestors were doing what their political leaders have repeatedly called for at this moment: speak up and take peaceful action against the unconstitutional and un-American actions of ICE and the Trump Administration.
“I call on the Attorney General to reconsider and dismiss these charges.”
Louie Manno, a Republican running in the Chittenden Central district against Goyal, supported Clark. “Interfering with government operations is against the law. There’s a law against it and they broke it. That’s how it works,” he said on a statement on Goyal’s FB page.
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Categories: Public Safety
Charge them to the fullest extent of the law. Lawlessness is going wild…including in Vermont. These aren’t protests. They are attacks.
The employees working in this building that the protest was aimed at are Federal employees . Wouldn’t that open this up to Federal prosecution if the Feds wanted to pursue it ? Just saying .
I agree with you but VT is not in favor of upholding the law. Too bad….VT used to have good common sense and obeyed the law.
Interesting that Sarah George’s opponent, Bram Kranichfeld received the endorsement of Vermont’s Attorney General Charity Clark in last month’s primary contest. There is some kind of, dare I say, cat fight going on with these two, either professional or personal. Despite running as a “democrat”, Sarah George is most definitely in the progressive camp, and maybe it’s just that ongoing conflict between democrats and progressives, like they have in Burlington politics that is the root of the issue there. In any event, thank goodness for the recently-announced Republican opponent, Jace Laquerre in the general election race for Chittenden County State’s Attorney that is also ruffling Sarah George’s feathers.
Take away the details and feelings. Just look at the law and the simple facts of how the law was broken. Clark is making the correct decision.
Protesting the prosecution if criminal because of your ideology is how Hitler and Lenin got their start. Just tell people its OK to break the laws they don’t like. They used violence to suit their means.
Whose a Nazi now??
How does a bar remove a disruptive patron nowadays? Are bouncers still used? Maybe, instead of calling the police, the private business should hire bouncers to remove the trespassers by force if necessary.
I don’tI
I say it’s about time! Demonstrations ar fine as long as they’re no in the street blocking traffic, at someones private hom or in an office or public building! Prosecute if they are.
This is the reason why you need to stop voting for Democrats. They believe it’s OK to break the law and then when they break the law that they believe they can get away with breaking the law. But let this be a republican and the Democrats would throw the book at it. Stop voting for these communist terrorists. Democrats are the problem and anybody that can’t see that is obviously part of the problem as well. These people were trespassing they were told to leave and they refused. They were arrested for trespassing and they need to be prosecuted. Thank you to the Attorney General who chose to bring the charges back up and prosecute these people.
What would happen to me if I entered a private business, or for that matter a private dwelling, made the people there uncomfortable, disrupted the people working there, and refused to leave when asked to do so ? If one of the people working there felt threatened, Trespassing ? Also hit them with disorderly conduct .
“Disorderly conduct is a criminal offense or violation that involves behavior disturbing the peace, public order, safety, or morals of the general public. To establish a conviction, a prosecutor generally must prove that the individual acted with the intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or acted recklessly while creating a risk of doing so”
I’m curious what other laws that I can violate (peacefully, of course) that the candidates would in favor of passing up. Wow, I never realized I could break the law “peacefully” and not be charged. I really want the complete list of what’s acceptable!
What if you robbed a bank by giving the teller a note stating that you had a gun, while you really didn’t? I’ve actually been told that one by someone whose son robbed a bank. He was “non-violent” because he didn’t really have a gun.
This isn’t what I and countless genuinely peaceful protestors have done. This gives our efforts a bad name. This wasn’t “peaceful”. To say so is fascist false propaganda.
Okay, so Charity is going to prosecute to make it look like this is not a politically motivated decision. She needs Conservatives to think she is doing a good job so the Clark bashing will stop. But, you can change a leopards spots but it is still a leopard. Let’s see how this plays out.
This should be a slam dunk for Atty. Gen. Clark, accountability for actions.
Breaking Trespassing & Disorderly Conduct Laws do not qualify as “free speech”
Why would you expect these communists to follow the law when they can’t follow the Constitution which is the law of the land. Selective prosecution is a tool of political hacks.
Yeah, why can’t they follow the Constitution like Trump does?! Despite not reading it or understanding it, he’s the best at it!