Court in first of #J20trials now on short break. Prosecution continues to call witnesses today, all cops so far. Jury has now heard from arresting officers for each defendant. No arresting officers' testimony appeared to include particularized probable cause for those arrested.
Testimony of each arresting officer basically went "I was told to show up and arrested them, i showed up and arrested them. Yes these items shown by prosecutor are their property." (Very loose paraphrasing here)
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#BREAKING: Federal prosecutors just filed notice that they are dismissing charges against 38 Trump inauguration protest defendants who had been facing decades in prison after being mass-arrested at #J20 protests. Report coming soon.
Our new report breaks down today's #J20 legal news, which likely represents a decisive end to the troubled case in which federal prosecutors had been fighting tooth & nail to convict anti-Trump protesters based on a wide-reaching conspiracy theory unicornriot.ninja/2018/us-attorn…
We've been doing our best to cover the #J20 case since the events of January 20, when hundreds of people took to the streets of DC for a militant street march demanding "No Peaceful Transition" for the new Trump administration: unicornriot.ninja/2017/no-peacef…
To view the "#UniteTheRight 2" planning chat on Facebook, look at the bottom of our new article for the embed. Leaked Messenger logs show chats between May 13 and June 14 of this year unicornriot.ninja/2018/leaked-vi…
The leaked Facebook chats show Jason Kessler and his co-organizers reaching out to violent far-right groups such as the Proud Boys, American Guard, & 'Patriot Prayer' to work security at the second #UniteTheRightunicornriot.ninja/2018/leaked-vi…
The ICE manual for undercover agents describes how agents & informants are allowed to break the law & can use "proceeds" from illegal businesses to fund their own operations in the field. Profits can also be paid to other agencies and foreign governments unicornriot.ninja/2018/icebreake…
ICE can also use profits from illegal business activity by undercover agents and/or informants to buy evidence, to pay themselves overtime, and pay for travel expenses unicornriot.ninja/2018/icebreake…
ICE provides cover to undercover agents and informants, as well as fake businesses for use during infiltration, using a variety of methods. One passage reveals how they are provided with fake social security numbers by the Social Security Administration unicornriot.ninja/2018/icebreake…
DC Superior Court is resuming session for the day shortly. On the 3rd floor around 9:30 AM, Chief Judge Robert Morin will be ruling on pre-trial matters for two upcoming Trump inauguration protest trial groups.
Last week, Chief Judge Morin ruled that prosecutors @USAO_DC violated the ‘Brady Rule’ by withholding evidence helpful to the defense. Today he will decide how to ‘sanction’ the prosecution. unicornriot.ninja/2018/prosecuto…#J20#J20trials
Judge Morin has suggested he may forbid the govt from continuing to use an undercover Project Veritas video of a protest planning meeting. New filings from the defense last night claim dozens of more Project Veritas videos were hidden from defense by US Attorneys #J20#J20trials
Court has resumed in the second #J20 Trump inauguration protest trial being overseen by Judge Kimberley Knowles. So far, jurors haven’t come into the courtroom yet, as Knowles has heard arguments over defense requests for a mistrial and motions for judgement of acquittal
The defense early this morning renewed their request for a mistrial. Counsel stated they had received partial information in response to their subpoena to ‘Matt’ from Project Veritas but they don’t have time to properly research this information to inform their arguments at trial
Yesterday, attorneys for each defendant had argued to Judge Knowles as to why all charges should be dismissed. Today, under her obligation to view evidence “in the light most favorable to the govt,” Judge Knowles allowed all but a few of the charges to remain. #J20#J20trial
The second trial stemming from the mass-arrest during protests against Trump’s inauguration is continuing this week in DC Superior Court. So far today, two prosecution witnesses have testified.
The first witness to testify today was Laurel Hassberger, a forensic technician who recovered several objects from the scene of the mass arrest at 12th & L on #J20. Assistant US Attorney Qureshi did a “show and tell” type presentation of several recovered objects to the jury.
This portion of testimony was basically identical to Hassberger’s appearance in the first trial. The prosecution dramatically presented several objects such as hammers, goggles, & crowbars. When cross examined, Hassberger admitted she pulled no fingerprints or DNA from the items