| | Terrorism charges against 'RNC Eight' dropped
Citing 'distraction,' prosecutor intends to focus on 'core illegal conduct' Terrorism charges against the eight protesters arrested for plotting to disrupt the Republican National Convention have been dropped while lesser felony charges remain in place.
"The Ramsey County attorney's office said [Thursday morning] that it would file amended complaints in the cases of the men and women known as the 'RNC 8.' The charges of conspiracy to commit riot and conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property will remain, but other charges of conspiracy to commit riot and conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property 'in furtherance of terrorism" will be dismissed,' writes Twincities.com.
Since their arrest, the eight protesters have received national attention and support from the greater activist community. The terrorism charges against them came from Minnesota's 2002 Patriot Act.
"We believe the terrorism charges would have been a distraction at trial," said Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner in a press release. "Dismissing those charges will help us focus on the core illegal conduct that occurred. Under the circumstances, the terrorism charge just complicates the case."
Police arrested the eight individuals in raids in the days before the RNC last year. Confiscated items in the raids included flammable liquids, empty glass bottles, rags and cement blocks.
The 'RNC 8' are contending that they did nothing wrong and were only expressing their Constitutionally-protected rights to freedom of speech and dissent.
The Minnesota Independent reports that the decision to drop the terrorism charges could be motivated by politics on Gaetner's part. Gaertner is seeking Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party backing for governor. But her pursuit of terrorism charges against the eight protesters has not gone down well with party activists.
“She obviously got too much bad publicity about it and she’s backing away,” said Jordan Kushner, an attorney for one of the defendants, to The Independent. “But the problem is that all the charges are politically motivated and unjustified.”
Ramsey County prosecutors will make a motion to amend the complaint against the protesters and dismiss the terrorism counts at a hearing on May 26.
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