A-Infos (en) US, St. Paul, Media, Eight RNC protesters accused of 'furthering terrorism' thanks to statute

Officials say the RNC 8 plotted to sabotage Xcel, kidnap delegates....
Eryn Trimmer sits in a Loring Park coffee shop and peers out the window to the 
street below. Dressed in a casual charcoal-colored sweater, with wispy blond 
hair, the gangly 23-year-old handyman resembles your typical coffeehouse 
regular. You'd hardly suspect he's an accused terrorist. ---- The Saturday 
before the Republican National Convention, Trimmer was sleeping upstairs in his 
two-story home in Minneapolis's Powderhorn neighborhood when he was awakened by 
a clatter. Within seconds, armed officers burst through his bedroom, guns drawn, 
and arrested Trimmer, his live-in girlfriend Monica Bicking, and their roommate 
Garrett Fitzgerald.

Five more RNC protesters would be rounded up during that weekend in advance of 
the RNC. Dubbed the "RNC 8," the defendants—seven of whom were members of 
anarchist group the RNC Welcoming Committee—stand accused of "conspiring to 
riot," a second-degree felony. According to a police affidavit, the eight acted 
as ringleaders in a plot to "kidnap delegates" and "sabotage the Xcel Center."

Authorities leveled the charges based on evidence provided by paid informants 
and undercover agents who infiltrated the RNC Welcoming Committee in the months 
leading up to the convention ("Moles Wanted," 5/21/08). "We assumed the group 
was under surveillance and that that could include informants," Trimmer says. 
"It was an open group and we weren't organizing anything illegal, so we didn't 
want to kick anybody out."

But the RNC 8 face more than the standard felony charges. For the first time, 
authorities are wielding an obscure state anti-terrorism statute passed in the 
nervous aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Second-degree "conspiracy to commit riot" 
ordinarily carries a maximum two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, but because 
the alleged crime was intended to "further terrorism," the sentence can be 
doubled to a maximum of five years.

"The statute's definition of 'terrorism' appears to be modeled after a statute 
in the Patriot Act," says attorney Bruce Nestor, who is defending one of the 
accused conspirators. "But whereas the Patriot Act statute requires an act of 
violence against people, the language here extends the definition to include 
'violence to property.'"

The original bill, proposed May 2, 2001, had nothing to do with terrorism: It 
required morticians and funeral directors to issue death notices for 
unidentifiable homeless people. Twelve months, five revisions, and one national 
tragedy later, the bill had mushroomed into a massive omnibus bill that included 
the hastily appended terrorism statute. Because the addendum was a relatively 
minor part of a larger piece of legislation, no one seems to be able to say for 
sure who inserted it.

"There was reaction to 9/11 and everybody wanted to get prepared," says Rep. 
Mary Liz Holberg (R-Lakeville), who voted for the bill. "I think the rationale 
behind it was that if individuals act in an organized manner and perpetuate 
crimes on the public, stiffer penalties are in order."

The most controversial aspect of the statute is its characterization of 
terrorism, which includes any felony that "significantly disrupts or interferes 
with the lawful exercise, operation, or conduct of government, lawful commerce, 
or the right of lawful assembly." Attorney Larry Leventhal, who is representing 
accused RNC 8 conspirator Max Specktor, says the language is overly broad.

"By that rationale, the definition of terrorism could be extended to anything," 
Leventhal argues. "If they don't like what you and I are saying to each other 
over a phone they're tapping, they can say that it's 'terroristic.'"

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher says that the RNC 8 may not look like the 
terrorists who crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center, but their actions 
justify the stiffer penalties. Fletcher points to the fact that a 50-pound 
sandbag was hurled from a freeway overpass onto a busload of delegates as proof.

"I think it's fair to say the people who were in downtown St. Paul during the 
convention, including delegates, felt a level of terror from the actions of the 
individuals associated with the RNC Welcoming Committee," Fletcher says.

The RNC 8 deny having any operational involvement in the sandbag incident, but 
admit that some members may have planned acts of "civil disobedience," such as 
blockading the Xcel Center.

At a probable cause hearing Monday, attorneys for the RNC 8 successfully argued 
for an extension to gather further evidence. But even if the defendants are 
convicted, it's doubtful any of them will serve the five years in prison called 
for by the new law.

"The judge has a great deal of discretion as to what probationary conditions to 
put into place," says County Attorney Susan Gaertner. "Generally, that might 
include up to a year in jail, community service, or treatment."

That comes as little consolation to Luce Guillen-Givens, one of the eight 
accused. Having been involved with various immigrant-rights and antiwar groups 
since the age of 15, Guillen-Givens, now 24, worries what will happen to the 
next person accused of "furthering terrorism."

"Historically, these crackdowns serve the purpose of disrupting and undermining 
movements of resistance," she says. "First, you try conspiracy charges out on 
the fringes and, if it works there, you move incrementally in."
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