PRO Gainesville guilty, as expected

County Attorney Ed Zielinksi presented the same video I have in this blog post about the actual 2020 protest, during the trial on misdemeanor charges of group leaders Torrey Henderson, Amara Ridge and Justin Thompson on the charge of "obstructing a major passageway."

From the Gainesville Register, in one of its very few stories still of any depth and worth reading:

The charges stated that the PRO Gainesville protestors obstructed California Street on three different occasions: on the Pecan Creek Bridge, while marching down the west-bound lane between the post office and the courthouse and when crossing the intersection of California and Dixon streets diagonally.

Now, I do have a couple of questions. If none of the three were themselves jaywalking on a state highway, why were they charged? I guess as leadership responsibility for only having a permit for a protest, not a march.

That said, why isn't this dude (I heard it on that video too) charged?

At one point in the video, the cameraman could be heard saying, “[The police] are telling us to get out of the road and we’re not listening. I like it.”

Can't the police finger him? (The state statute for obstruction of a major roadway says "willingly" or "knowingly," and Gainesville's police chief said at the time they didn't think most the rank and file knew the leadership had not gotten a parade permit. BUT? What if the cameraman DID know?)

I also think it was funny that the wrongfully woke Simone Carter of the Dallas Observer got dragged onto the witness stand by the defense. Given that she doesn't live in Gainesville and saw none of the events in person, that opened her up to all sorts of cross-exam issues. (More than a week later, probably in part because the case is on appeal, she's written noting new about it.)

Meanwhile, why did PRO Gainesville go all the way down to Dallas to land Alison Grinter as their legal beagle, especially if she either doesn't understand the First Amendment or thought she could buffalo the Gainesville yokels with stuff like this:

Dallas attorney Alison Grinter’s defense relied on First Amendment protections and the right to protest. She said she believed the legal system was trying to make a point by having the charge be an obstruction of traffic on a major passageway, when if the charge had been on any other street in the area the charge would have been a ticket for jaywalking at most.

Ms. Grinter, come now. Courts have ruled for hundreds of years that the actions of public protest under freedom of assembly can be regulated by government permit requirements. If PRO Gainesville had asked you to sue the city of Gainesville on its claims of unfair treatment of issuance or denial of permits, that would be another thing.

But it ain't.

Beyond that, being ignorant about what a state highway entails vs "any other street," and ignorant of, or trying to hand-wave on, traffic flow, city patterns for such, etc., is laughable. (California Street, where the incidents happened, is FM 51 in state highways' system of farm-to-market roads.)

The ACLU, which I cited in the link at top, would also like a word with Grinter's understanding of protests and permits. Also, the use of bullhorns in an unpermitted march could have led to citations.

Then, there's this:

In Grinter’s closing statement, she emphasized that the world was in a different climate in 2020, and by handing down a Not Guilty verdict, the jury could send a message that Cooke County was done with the hard feelings and show that this was an overreach of resources.

Uhh, given the number of marchers, the comment by the cameraman, and the vehicular traffic that evening, maybe it wasn't overkill.

The only thing I agree with re this actual case is that jail time beyond the fines is overkill. But, 7 days is FAR less than the maximum of 180 days.

BUT!

Maybe Zielinski offered that in plea talks and you rejected it? Maybe he didn't, either. Grinter Allen (her actual last name, Grinter her maiden, see below) didn't talk to the Groansville folks, but told the Denton Wrecked Chronic, which also reported on the case, that Zielinski was determined to go to trial. Well, he no-commented, since she's appealing. 

(I asked her point-blank on Twitter if Ed offered a plea deal or not. We'll see if I get a response. I also told her in my Tweet thread that I'm a non-duopoly actual leftist.

As for your claim re the specific road and that Gainesville PD was "targeting" PRO Gainesville? It IS a state highway. This would probably fall under the "duh" category. (Before we go further, I'm a non-duopoly voting actual leftist.) 2/x

— TheRealSocraticGadfly (@real_gadfly) August 26, 2022

We'll see if she responds.)

In their story, Thompson claims the commissioners court was in on the effort to deliberately punish them. Uhh, wrong. They don't micromanage Zielinski.

Thompson also claims that a group of Trumpist MAGAts types were so upset over local coverage they started an alternative newspaper. News to me. Never seen a copy at, say Quick Trip. Seriously, knowing how far right Gainesville tilts? And this isn't publicly circulated?

Thompson also has a different story for the Wrecked Chronic about not hearing the police than he did for the Register, where he said he did, thought the warning was originally for a bicyclist, then realized it wasn't, then told people to get back on the sidewalk.

Anyway, even though this is done, as the case WAS a slam dunk, Grinter says it ain't:

We received a lot of support, even privately from law enforcement officers and elected officials, but few would voice their support publicly because of the culture of intimidation that was on full display throughout the two day trial. We will appeal. #IStandWithPROGainesville https://t.co/1pQKDb5brG

— Alison Grinter Allen (@alisongrinter) August 26, 2022

Getcha popcorn! 

I also forgot that Grinter called all three defendants "kids" two years ago. I think all three were over 25 then; I know they are now. Henderson and Thompson are approaching 30.

Otherwise, she's a typical run-of-the-mill Ukrainian warmongering supporting Democrat who's also running for a district judgeship in Dallas County. It's ALSO interesting she uses her maiden name on Twitter and as cited by the media, but hubby's name in running for office.

Scratch that. She WAS running but lost handily in the Dems' March primary, but still has her campaign website on her Twitter bio. Per that Ballotpedia link, she was third in a three-person race for a Dallas County criminal judge race in the 2020 primary. And oops in two ways. Still under her maiden name in 2018 and thus with a different Ballotpedia, she lost again, for the same race as this year, in the 2018 primary. And, she's in solo practice (with the help of a paralegal). Nuff ced.

No, NOT nuff ced. She's also ... PR-ing her failed election campaign.. Her website claims she's running for a district judgeship. Nope. In 2022, as the previous two times, it's a Dallas County criminal court, the criminal-side-only version of a county court-at-law, like Judge Morris' court in this case up here in Gainesville. It is NOT a "district court." Using that phraseology seems to me to imply that it's a state district court, even if Dallas County has multiple county court judicial districts. And, if she's board-certified in criminal law, she knows the difference.

Update, Sept. 2: The Gainesville Register, in a house editorial almost certainly by ME Mike Eads, decided to fellate PRO Gainesville's leaders. Of course it did.

First, contra Eads, a jury, not a judge, imposed the sentencing amount.

Second, he appears to accept Grinter's claim at face value that Zielinski was determined to go to trial and that, behind that, her implication there were no plea negotiations.

Third, Eads appears to have bought the trio's claims at face value and to not even have watched the video.

Fourth, he appears to like to do mind-reading of the counterprotestors.

Fifth and related, IIRC, the counterprotestors were themselves all on the square itself. Certainly, the self-own video by the cameraman doesn't indicate otherwise, nor does my own recollection from briefly being down there.

Final question: Where is fake PRO Gainesville member, and actual Young Rethuglican, Tucker Craft, these days?