Dave Mahoney Expected to Plea Bargain Monday

from the Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure

This morning in Ramsey County District Court, RNC activist Dave Mahoney is expected to take a plea bargain in front of Judge Paulette Flynn. Mahoney was alleged to have participated in dropping a bag of sand onto a closed highway exit ramp in front of a delegate bus. Instead of going to trial on the 10 felony counts leveled by the office of Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, Mahoney will likely plead guilty to only a single count of second degree assault. His agreement includes a 90-day cap on jail time, reduction of the felony charge to a gross misdemeanor after the sentence is served, and the ability to return to his native England after the sentence.

"It appears to us that Dave must have taken the deal due to pressure – not because of any actual guilt," said Brian Hokanson, a local activist with the Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure (CRASS). "Although we’re happy that Dave will be able to get on with his life after a short sentence, it’s unfortunate that such a politically motivated prosecution will send a clearly innocent person to jail at all."

Mahoney's charges have evolved significantly since the RNC protests began nine months ago today. First accused of aiding and abetting another's action, Mahoney then faced two, then six, and ultimately ten charges. Without a single win at trial and the vast majority of cases dismissed, authorities have clearly placed a special target on radical activists who have continued to fight their trumped-up charges in open court.

In a letter threatening more charges to Mahoney's attorney last December, prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft called the case "by far the most serious RNC case I have." Equally if not more perplexing, during the presentation of the Heffelfinger-Luger Report in January, Andrew Luger called the bag-of-sand incident "the most frightening moment of the convention," apparently overlooking the pre-emptive raids, state-sponsored shutdown of downtown, and hundreds of brutal injuries caused by police.

“Unfortunately, without a trial, observers will be unable to witness the Republican delegates' explanation of precisely why they felt terrorized by a bag of sand but not by the violent squelching of dissent in the streets of St. Paul,” said Hokanson of CRASS. “First ten counts, now one. Exactly who did Dave allegedly assault, anyway?”

The manipulation and reliance on pressure evidenced in Mahoney’s case is indicative of the only tactic Ramsey County authorities have left to justify the police brutality and fiscal waste that characterized the RNC. In response, supporters of Mahoney will pack the court in solidarity at his hearing today and expected sentencing in 6-8 weeks.

About CRASS -- Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure is a non-hierarchical coalition of RNC arrestees and community allies, including local groups such as Coldsnap Legal Collective, Friends of the RNC8, National Lawyers Guild - MN, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Anti-War Committee, Twin Cities Indymedia, and Veterans for Peace. CRASS provides multifaceted support to those arrested during the 2008 Republican National Convention to ensure that all interested arrestees have the support necessary to fight their charges and stand up for free speech.