2y ago

Georgia Attorney General Brings RICO Indictments Against 61 Activists

itsgoingdown.org /georgia-attorney-general-brings-rico-indictments-against-61-activists/

AP link: https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-cop-city-protests-rico-charges-3177a63ac1bd31a1594bed6584e9f330

53 comments

This is an egregious abuse of power. The US is built on protest, it’s often the only recourse available. If your policy ideas don’t hold up to public scrutiny and can’t survive a little peaceful demostration, then sorry, those ideas are shit.
One of the individuals charged in the RICO conspiracy is Thomas Jurgens, who was acting as a legal observer at a music festival March 5. Jurgens was arrested while wearing a bright yellow hat marking him as a legal observer.
- These people would charge the Boston Tea Partiers with RICO if it was today.
  "They conspired to destroy private property reeeeeeee!"
  Dumbasses.
- Ahhhh the man in the yellow hat ….. and what has his curious little buddy been up to?
Jesus. They are charging everyone who so much as sighed heavy about the cop city being built.
Helped on the website? RICO. Helped make protest signs? RICO. Undercook fish? Believe it or not, RICO.
- Is it a crime to knowingly participate in a criminal conspiracy or not?
  
  I dunno, is organizing a protest a criminal conspiracy?
  
  Please enlighten us, how is this criminal conspiracy? What horribly illegal act did these protesters commit that justifies RICO charges? They've already arrested several and killed one for bullshit reasons. How are the RICO charges any different?
This surely can only go well. The article doesn't state much about the protestors angle at all. It just sounds like an authoritarian play using a draconian interpretation of long-standing laws to fuck with people you don't like. Has nothing to do with actual racketeering or organized criminal activity, just some right-wing thought experiment trying to turn wording against their enemies. Never works in court though, so I don't get why they keep trying this noise.
- It's to undermine the RICO case against Trump
  
  Well that's just idiotic grandstanding if true, because Trump's plays out the steps EXACTLY on how to catch a RICO charge. It's like a 'Criminal Racketeering and Conspiracy to commit 100 Kinds of Fraud: For Dummies' book.
  
  And the governor praised the charges. That mother fucker needs to be removed from office. Republicans and conservatives need to be all removed from society.
  
  Thank you. I've been waiting for someone to point that out since the story first broke.
  
  It’s to undermine the first amendment
  
  I think it's an attempt to stifle resistance to cop city.
  
  Did Trump pass out fliers? Organize a protest? Offend murders by calling them murderers? Was he arrested for wearing a yellow hat? Does he own a curious monkey named George?
  
  Honestly, I doubt it. The state has been throwing their full weight against the Stop Cop City protestors from the beginning.
  
  How would it undermine the RICO case against Trump?
- "Never works in court..."
  If you don't think dragging someone in to court and having to pay for and deal with all that BS isn't undue punishment enough, then you're either heartless all the same or not thinking it through.
  
  Yeah the hassle/hardship that a lot of these people will endure due to these trumped up (no pun intended) charges is the real point; that and trying to deter others from using their rights to protest. I seriously doubt the prosecutors think they will actually win in court.
3 of them got RICO charges for passing out flyers…
- And if there's evidence that they knew they were actively participating in a criminal conspiracy by doing so they deserve their probation or a few months in jail.
  
  A criminal conspiracy to pass out flyers?
  
  What conspiracy?
  
  three activists previously charged with felony intimidation after authorities said they distributed flyers calling a state trooper a “murderer” for his involvement in the fatal shooting of a protester.
  Bro this is going to get laughed out of court lol
Lemmy is growing up, we gave them the hug of death.
- They say it coming with a url like "itsgoingdown.org"
  
  Lol, that’s funny. The site went down.
  
  Checks out, literally
  
  I seriously can't tell if the OP is a parody account or being earnest, his other posts have always been a little suspect like this one.
If you make protesting illegal, people will find other (often far more violent) ways to express their displeasure at and disapproval of the current administration.
Itsgoingdown is ironically enough down, so here's another article from a different source about the issue.
Personal favorite highlight:
[Allegations] include [...] being reimbursed for glue and food for activists who spent months camping in the woods near the construction site.
Trying to downplay Trumps case I see
Site is down. What type of activists are these? Most of the time, activists mean left-leaning, but I guess they could be stop the steal activists. My guess? Probably has something to do with the 'police city' training center if it is in Atlanta.
So are we supposed to be shocked when people do illegal things and they get in legal trouble, or is that only supposed to happen to people whose causes we disagree with?
Read the indictment. Regardless of what you think about the forest or the police training facility, there's plenty of alleged criminal activity contained within that anyone would agree is criminal. It's not all "passing out flyers" or "signing his name as ACAB".
- Neither you nor the article link that indictment, but the article claims money laundering is based on $11 reimbursement for glue improperly transferred. Yep. RICO was designed to seize profits from crime bosses and drug traffickers, so I’m sure it’s appropriate to pile on to protesters fr $11 improperly transferred
  
  You misunderstand RICO. Such statutes are meant to make people who conspire to commit a crime equally prosecutable even if not all of them personally committed the crime.
- Ugh leather breath
  
  Ugh, reading an actual indictment instead of misleading summaries.

53 comments