San Antonio Photographer Faces 70 Years in Prison for Doing His Job

Started by Shiranu, July 26, 2017, 09:41:20 AM

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Shiranu

https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/07/24/san-antonio-photographer-faces-70-years-in-federal-prison-for-documenting-inauguration-day-protest


QuoteIt’s the cold, gray and rainy Inauguration Day of United States President Donald Trump, and San Antonio-based photographer Alexei Wood hustles to stay moving on the streets of downtown Washington, D.C. , dodging stun grenades and police-dispersed pepper spray, serenaded by wailing sirens. Wood, who’s alongside at least six other reporters, anywhere from 500 to 1,000 protestors and a couple of hundred cops, is covering a march against fascism and capitalism on January 20 via a livestream on Facebook.A portion of Wood’s 42-minute footage resembles a war zone. At one point, after the sounds of another non-lethal grenade thwacked in and around D.C.’s Logan Circle neighborhood, an out-of-breath Wood says into his cell-phone video camera, “This is going to be a long day, y’all.”

Wood’s recording captures individuals clad in “black bloc,” head-to-toe black garb and wearing masks, spray-painting REVOLUTION OR DEATH on a slate gray grate and bashing out the windows of a limousine. On the corner of L and 12th streets, the dueling narratives between the protestors and the police collided, with members of each group sustaining injuries in various baton strikes, shoves and dogpiles. Wood, a 37-year-old freelance photographer and videographer, was there for it all, broadcasting live footage that dropped viewers straight into the heart of the intense scene.

But Wood paid a price for his in-the-trenches maneuvering. While on the frontlines of the clash between protestors and D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers, armed riot cops deployed pepper spray and ensnared a group of more than 230 marchers and journalists, including Wood. Embattled MPD police chief Peter Newsham ordered the mass apprehension; the arrested were subsequently charged with felony rioting, which carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Felony charges were eventually dropped against a handful of the arrested journalists. But the opposite happened to Wood and 213 other arrested protestors and reporters.

The Superior Court of the District of Columbia smacked the defendants with a superseding indictment that tacked on charges of urging to riot, conspiracy to riot and destruction of property. The indictment says that, Wood, along with hundreds of defendants, took part in a 33-minute riot through 16 city blocks “to facilitate violence and destruction.” Wood, who on the day of his arrest carried an SLR camera in one hand and his cell phone in the other, said he didn’t destroy any property â€" let alone hurt anyone.

If convicted, Wood faces between 70 and 80 years in federal prison. Critics have called the charges “arbitrary” and “unbelievably harsh” while the MPD has been accused of using excessive force in a bellicose attack of basic First Amendment rights.
Wood said prosecutors offered him a plea deal of one year in prison deferred to one-and-a-half years probation, a $1,000 fine and 60 hours of community service, even though he doesn’t appear to come anywhere close to rioting or destroying property in court evidence, his Facebook Live video. He flat-out refused before hearing the details of the deal.


Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we lived in America... not Cuba, Russia or Iran...
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Gawdzilla Sama

We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Shiranu

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 26, 2017, 09:56:21 AM
Yeah, not much rioting in those countries.

In Iran? The Green revolution has been going on for years, and you always hear of protestors being cracked down on in Russia. Cuba is the only one that might be accurate about... all the protestors come here before saying anything...

If anything, our protests are getting disturbingly like how those countries are... very large scale, increasingly violent in suppression and increasingly violently in action.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Gawdzilla Sama

So, everybody's getting violent?

I thought the rioting was a severe black eye for the rationalists.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Atheon

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." - Seneca

Baruch

I like peaceful licensed (no blocking traffic please) demonstrations.  Anti-Fa are just communists ... I would jail them.  Same with KKK guys.

Perhaps a miscarriage of justice.  Has never happened before?  And the press is anyone now, not just Jimmy Olson with a press pass.  Hard to tell demonstrators from the press.  Of course, with a prejudiced SWJ press, it is hard to separate them, even when they aren't on the street.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

fencerider

we are marching on the double quick to the next American Revolution. Only this time the people will lose and the U.S. will officially be a police-state. China, N Korea, and maybe Russia will have a good chuckle and say welcome to the club
"Do you believe in god?", is not a proper English sentence. Unless you believe that, "Do you believe in apple?", is a proper English sentence.

Baruch

Quote from: fencerider on July 27, 2017, 02:04:40 AM
we are marching on the double quick to the next American Revolution. Only this time the people will lose and the U.S. will officially be a police-state. China, N Korea, and maybe Russia will have a good chuckle and say welcome to the club

Left handed dictator, right handed dictator ... choose wisely.

The original American Revolutionaries were malcontents and social rejects sent to the new world, to get rid of them.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.