25 February 2020 Press Advisory
Contact: Keith James (213) 949-8083
Mari Matsuoka (323) 574-3997
RefuseFascism.org
Facebook, Twitter: @RefuseFascismLA
When: Thursday, February 27, 8:30 a.m.
Where: Metropolitan Courthouse
6th Floor, Department 62
1945 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90007
INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE
Journalists are encouraged to ask the Court for copies of the 12 hours of tapes that are now under protective order.
* Dept. 62 — Judge Anne Hwang (213) 745-1863
* Dept 74 — Judge Jeffrey Cohen-Laurie (213) 745-1874
LAPD Spy Attempted Entrapment of Refuse Fascism with Calls for Violence
Defendants Face Three Years in Jail for Peaceful Political Protest In the Face of LAPD and Prosecutorial Harassment
The Confidential Informant sent in to Refuse Fascism meetings to surveil and secretly record said in an open meeting: “I don’t like Trump and what he’s doing, ruining our country…you can give me a gun any day, I’ll shoot them.” and someone responded “This is not what we are about.” [Refuse Fascism’s mission statement makes clear it is calling for mass non-violent, sustained protest to drive the Trump/Pence fascist regime from power.]
This quote is from the tapes of the Confidential Informant sent to spy on meetings of Refuse Fascism held at a church in 2017.
This new evidence came from over 12 hours of LAPD spy tapes released to the defense attorneys to review in the cases of Chantelle Hershberger and Miguel Alex Antonio, two of the LA Freeway 9. It was presented in last week’s hearing on a motion to dismiss based on politically motivated prosecutorial vindictiveness.
The Freeway 9 are members of Refuse Fascism and the Revolution Club who stood on the Hollywood Freeway on two occasions in 2017 with banners and signs to sound the alarm about the dangers of the Trump/Pence regime, calling for massive sustained non-violent protest to drive them out.
This new evidence even more starkly revealed the rank political nature of the prosecution and should have called this whole trial to a halt.
The motion to dismiss was instead denied, and the City Attorney Mike Feuer and the Court are moving full speed ahead with a second trial. These Defendants were found not guilty by 9 jurors in an earlier mistrial.
The tapes are currently under a protective order and the defense attorneys are not allowed to talk about their contents. Refuse Fascism is encouraging members of the media to request copies of the tapes through the court.
LAPD Police Chief Moore lied when he told the Police Commission that the sending in of the CI was justifiable, stating there were “allegations of people who identified with [this] political action group but were also identified as being involved with criminal acts including arson, vandalism, assault with a deadly weapon and those types of criminal acts”. All of this was pure fabrication. These kinds of lies and distortions show even more how Refuse Fascism has been politically targeted and that this went to the highest levels of the LAPD.
Detective Dickson from the Major Crimes Division (Anti-Terrorist Division) which was in charge of the whole surveillance operation, lied when he took the stand at the hearing, saying they were merely looking to find who had planned the action on the freeway and if they were planning to do it again. The defense attorneys pointed out that the CI came back at least four times, that Refuse Fascism was being surveilled for constitutionally protected political activity, with attempts at actual entrapment!
Miguel Alex Hernandez put it this way. “Who are the real criminals here? We just watched the real criminals in the White House get off the hook with a sham trial – where evidence was suppressed and truth meant nothing. These criminals have done horrendous things to immigrants, children, women, and LGBTQ people and in their wars around the world. And here we are, the people who have stood up against this and we are being criminalized and dragged through the court for two and a half years by a Democrat City Attorney Mike Feuer – who by his actions is collaborating with these fascists. Imagine the horrors that could have been prevented if people had answered our call in 2017. Instead of being celebrated for our foresight and courage, we’ve been harassed and targeted by the LAPD, targeted for unconstitutional surveillance and dragged through endless court dates! Everyone has to ask themselves, which side are you on? Free the Freeway9! Drop the charges!”
For more information about Refuse Fascism go to refusefascism.org. Read their Call here.
For a fact sheet and past media coverage including from the LA Times, Guardian, revcom.us, and La Opinion, click here and here.
Watch “Free the Trump/Pence Must Go Freeway Protesters in LA!” on YouTube