A California man facing more than a decade in prison for writing with chalk on public sidewalks has been told he’s barred from discussing the details of his controversial case outside of court.
Judge Howard Shore issued a gag-order in a San Diego, California
courtroom this week against Jeff Olson, a 40-year-old activist
that used washable children’s chalk to scribble anti-bank slogans
in public space last year.
According to the San Diego Reader, the gag-order issued on Friday
also applies to witnesses, members of the jury and potentially
others, a measure that Truth-Out editor Mark Karlin said is
“unprecedented” for a misdemeanor trial.
Olson has been charged with 13 misdemeanor counts of vandalism for chalking
slogans such as “No Thanks, Big Banks” and “Shame on Bank of
America” on the sidewalks outside of branches in the San Diego
area throughout 2012. Now as the criminal trial against him wages
on in Southern California, the defendant and anyone remotely
involved in the case is reportedly muzzled by a ban that could
bring media coverage of the case to a grinding halt.
The Reader reports that Judge Shore issued the gag-order during
Friday’s hearing after expressing her discontent with comments
Olson made about his potential sentencing. According to the
charge sheet filed by the city of San Diego, Olson could be
subjected to $13,000 in fines and a maximum of 13 years in prison
if convicted, prompting the defendant to make a myriad of remarks
in recent weeks, including one to the U-T San Diego newspaper
that called the prosecution, “an unconstitutional overreach
and a total waste of taxpayer money.”
Commenting to reporters on Friday, Judge Shore said a decade
behind bars was “not going to happen” and insisted she
“would be surprised if it ever happened to any defendant with
no criminal record.”
Shortly after those remarks, OIson read a note to the court that
said in part, “This morning Judge Shore issued a gag order
prohibiting all counsel and parties from commenting or expressing
opinions on the case. All I am permitted to say is that I
disagree.”
As Karlin notes, Judge Shore’s issuing of the gag-order came just
days after Olson told reporters, “My chalk drawings are
clearly free speech and protected by the First Amendment.”
Speaking to CBS News previously, Olson defended his act of
protest:
“Always on city sidewalks, washable chalk, never crude
messages, never vulgar, clearly topical,” he said.
Prosecutors in San Diego aren’t amused with his work, however,
and have discounted Olson’s assertion that he was engaging in an
act of free speech. Judge Shore said earlier in the week that
Olson’s attorney is prohibited from “mentioning the First
Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive
conduct or political speech during the trial,” but the
issuing of a gag-order now limits much more than what was already
decided.
Olson said that at the heart of his case is not the issue of
vandalism, but an infringement on the right to free speech. He
has accused San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith is trying to
stop him from talking because he has raked in heavy donations
from the banks in the past, and is now reported to be eyeing a
bid at the mayor’s role in 2016.
“Jan Goldsmith has received campaign contributions from Bank
Americorp and Merrill Lynch. I think this is mostly about
Goldsmith for Mayor 2016,” Olson told San Diego 6 News.
“If I had drawn a little girl’s hopscotch squares on
the street, we wouldn’t be here today,” the activist added to
KGTV News.
Bob Filner, the mayor of San Diego, issued a statement last week
calling for the city to drop their case against Olson.
“This young man is being persecuted for thirteen counts of
vandalism stemming from an expression of political protest that
involved washable children’s chalk on a City sidewalk,”
Filner wrote. “It is alleged that he has no previous criminal
record. If these assertions are correct, I believe this is a
misuse and waste of taxpayer money. It could also be
characterized as an abuse of power that infringes on First
Amendment particularly when it is arbitrarily applied to some,
but not all, similar speech.”
Goldsmith responded to the mayor’s claims by defending the
prosecution, saying, “We prosecute vandalism and theft cases
regardless of who the perpetrator or victim might be.”
“We don’t decide, for example, based upon whether we like or
dislike banks,” Goldsmith told the U-T San Diego website.
“That would be wrong under the law and such a practice by law
enforcement would change our society in very damaging ways.”
“I’m am not going out on a limb to say that this is
outrageous,” quipped Olson.
Republished with permission from:: RT