Protesters who called to defund police convicted of some charges, acquitted of others
Two Wichita women who organized demonstrations in the city last summer demanding changes in police conduct and funding were found guilty last week of misdemeanor charges associated with their protest activity.
Project Justice ICT leader Gabrielle Griffie and Marissa Gonzalez both received probation sentences following bench trials in Wichita Municipal Court.
Griffie, who was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of unlawful assembly, will serve six months of non-reporting probation for each conviction and must pay fines and court fees. Judge Bryce Abbott also acquitted her of two counts of disorderly conduct tied to the protests.
A fifth charge was dismissed after a witness failed to appear in court.
Gonzalez, convicted Thursday of assault and two counts of unlawful assembly, will serve a year of reporting probation, six months of non-reporting probation and must attend an eight-week anger management course. Abbott also acquitted her of one count of disorderly conduct, and another case was dropped after a prosecution request before Gonzalez’s trial began.
She has at least one other case pending.
The women are among protesters arrested after their demonstrations July 29-31 at times turned confrontational with motorists trying to use the roads they had blocked or were marching down. Much of the trials centered on whether the protesters could occupy the roads to deliver their message — the judge said they had no right to impede traffic without a permit — and whether merely being part of a noisy protest crowd is enough to hold a person accountable when someone else’s conduct becomes harassing or unruly.
During the trials, prosecutor Maria Schrock painted the women as “unfriendly,” “angry” and “aggressive” when interacting with drivers traveling lawfully on Wichita streets.
Defense attorney Dylan Wheeler, meanwhile, argued that his clients were defending themselves against motorists who drove through the crowds and called protesters names.
In a written statement after the trials, Wheeler said he had “mixed feelings” about Abbott’s rulings. But he said he felt comforted to see the judge “take a critical eye toward the various First Amendment issues arising with many of these charges.”
“In each instance where the City sought to impose criminal liability solely over the actual content of my clients’ speech as they held their protests, the judge was very cautious to ensure his rulings aligned with well-established standards that act to prevent government censorship of ideas,” Wheeler wrote.
“It would have been deeply disturbing — and moreover, wildly unconstitutional — had the City’s attempts to criminalize my clients’ speech merely for the views they expressed been successful.”
The Wichita protests were among Black Lives Matter movements nationwide calling for an end to police brutality and the defunding of law enforcement agencies, fueled anew by the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd while a Minnesota police officer knelt on his neck.
While some local protesters have shared their demonstration plans with Wichita police over the years — prompting officers to block off streets and sometimes participate with them in rallies — Project Justice ICT refused to do so, leading to speculation that the group was unfairly targeted by authorities who didn’t like their message.
In an August interview, Griffie told The Eagle she thought her arrests and those of other protesters by police were “a blatant scare tactic to try to keep the organizers of Project Justice ICT from marching in the streets.”
Wheeler said in his written statement that the group’s calls to defund the department “at the very least made the WPD disinterested in acting as a mediating force between the group and the general public,” including erecting roadblocks or intervening in any illegal activity as it was happening.
The police department at the time of Griffie’s August interview said it “has always supported” protest rights and had previously worked with protest leaders “to ensure their groups were able to share their views safely.”
But it contended those involved with the downtown protests staged by Project Justice ICT “refuse to demonstrate lawfully.”
Motorists felt ‘scared’ by crowds
The women’s trials each drew a small group of protesters to court, but only to quietly watch the proceedings. There were no demonstrations.
But in a brief exchange with a bailiff outside of the courtroom Wednesday, Gonzalez demanded to be let in to observe Griffie’s trial. Court staff told her spectator space was limited due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements but that she and others could go in if seating was free.
Motorists summoned to testify both days described feeling “scared” and “nervous” as they came upon the chanting crowds occupying traffic lanes in parts of downtown and the Delano neighborhood.
Austin Winter, who was pulled off of his motorcycle during a particularly tense exchange when protesters overtook the round-about at 500 West Douglas on July 31, told the court he felt “shaken the whole time.” Neither of the women on trial this week touched Winter that night; the protester who pulled him off has already been convicted.
But Winter was summoned to court Wednesday to testify in relation to a disorderly conduct charge Griffie was later acquitted of. Video footage shows Griffie in the crowd that night, but there was nothing to suggest she ordered or encouraged others to pull Winter down.
Another motorist, Jeremy McTaggart, testified that he “felt threatened” by protesters “taking up two lanes” of Broadway as he headed home on July 29.
During that march, Gonzalez stood in front of his vehicle and shouted at him, he testified during Gonzalez’s trial Thursday — although he conceded that he probably used profanity when he told protesters to “get out of the way” and said that he tried to make Gonzalez move by “pumping my brakes.”
Gonzalez was later convicted of assault and unlawful assembly for the interaction but acquitted of disorderly conduct.
“That’s a public roadway. She had no right to be out there impeding traffic,” McTaggart said in court.
Another driver, Samantha Lehr, said Wednesday that she stayed back a ways from the group of protesters she came upon chanting and marching in the rain at Douglas and Broadway late on July 30. But she said she felt unsafe when it appeared some “starting moving towards” her van.
“I had one person point at me. ... That’s when I started to become uncomfortable,” she testified, adding that if she hadn’t turned off of Douglas when she did “I would have been next in line.”
Video evidence shown in court — all recorded and broadcast live on the Facebook page of local Libertarian party interest group, Liberty ICT — at times clearly showed protesters engaging in wrongful conduct, Abbott said.
“When it comes to unlawful assembly, this is the poster child,” the judge said about a clip that showed protesters blocking a car from navigating the Delano roundabout at the command of a group member.
A Wichita police detective who testified both days, MaryAnna Hoyt, said she used the Facebook Live footage to help identify alleged criminal activity and those involved.
But in other instances, it was questionable.
Referring to a clip the prosecution used to try to prove Griffie engaged in noisy conduct, intending to alarm others, in the July 30 march, the judge said: “I see protected speech that doesn’t cross the line.”
He also found no evidence to convict Griffie of disorderly conduct after seeing video clips the prosecution used to try to tie her to the next evening’s attack on the motorcyclist in Delano.
But Abbott had harsh words for the defense attorney when he argued against an unlawful assembly charge for that same night’s events, which included Griffie verbally confronting a motorist who reportedly called her and other protesters vulgar names when they refused to leave the streets.
During the shouting match, Griffie was “grabbing at” a pistol holstered at her hip and saying “‘F--- around and find out,’” the police detective, Hoyt, testified.
“This is an unlawful assembly. This is probably an aggravated assault,” Abbott said. “Your client probably should be in district court charged with a felony.”
One thing that didn’t come up at the trials was the use of sidewalk chalk by some protesters, including Gonzalez, to scrawl messages on public walkways in downtown. In response to questions from The Eagle, Wheeler, the defense attorney, said charges tied to the chalk were dropped at the request of prosecutors prior to his clients’ trials.
Appeals planned
Court matters tied to the summertime protests aren’t over for the women.
Wheeler said they plan to challenge at least some of Abbott’s rulings in a higher court. Any appeals have to be filed in Sedgwick County District Court within 14 days of Griffie and Gonzalez’s convictions.
He said the judge’s interpretation of the city’s unlawful assembly ordinance will take center stage.
“Despite the ordinance’s name, an assembly of people gathered while doing something declared “unlawful” (i.e. walking in a public road when a sidewalk is available) is not in and of itself an “unlawful assembly,” Wheeler said.
Gonzalez also will be back in municipal court next month for another trial tied to additional allegations of illegal protest conduct. That charge was scheduled to be heard Thursday but the matter was postponed to accommodate a witness’s work schedule.
Griffie could also be brought back to court on a disorderly conduct charge that city prosecutor asked to have dropped because a witness didn’t show up to testify.
Wheeler said while his clients were “naturally pleased” to see many charges dismissed voluntarily by the city or through acquittal, “all it really indicated is that they were overcharged to begin with.”
“It is an understatement to say that Ms. Griffie and Ms. Gonzalez already had low opinions of the way our criminal justice system operates, which is why they took to the streets to begin with,” he said.
“I don’t believe their recent experiences with the processes of the Wichita Municipal Court have done anything to temper those attitudes.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2021 at 4:17 AM.
