Three More RNC Felony Charges from Marion Bridge

UPDATE 1/18:Christina Vana and Karen Meissner have turned themselves in, and bail was set at around $30,000. Of the $6,500 necessary to bond them out, another $3,500 is still needed!

UPDATE 1/17: Funds are urgently needed for the financial support of the two Milwaukee-area activists! Donate via CRASS at www.RNCaftermath.org.

More from Milwaukee Indymedia.

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Susan Gaertner's office is out of control!

The Star Tribune reported yesterday (see below) that three more felony charges are being filed in the Marion bridge incident on September 1. Last week, the Heffelfinger/Luger commission echoed the ludicrous claim by prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft that the incident (Dusterhoft specifically referred to bystander Dave Mahoney, now facing six felonies) was the most serious of the entire convention.

Four and a half months after the RNC, the prosecutor's office and police agencies are still obsessed with finding any means necessary to justify the massive police brutality and siege of St. Paul, even at the expense of people's livelihoods.

In Minnesota, 2nd degree assault consists of assault with a "dangerous weapon" and carries a maximum penalty of 7 years in prison and a $14,000 fine.

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3 are charged with assault over throwing sign off bridge at RNC

Last update: January 16, 2009 - 8:38 PM
http://www.startribune.com/local/37747749.html

Three people were charged Friday with second-degree assault after authorities identified them as participants among a group of protesters that threw a large metal road sign off the Marion Street bridge on Sept. 1, the first day of the Republican National Convention.

One of the three, Bradley N. Crowder, 23, of Austin, Texas, pleaded guilty last week in federal court to making Molotov cocktails that he and another Austin man allegedly intended to use to disrupt the convention.

The complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court lists Crowder's address as the Sherburne County jail in Elk River. Crowder's co-defendants in Ramsey County are Christina R. Vana, 19, of West Bend, Wis., and Karen M. Meissner, 23, of Menomonee Falls, Wis.

According to the complaint, the three were captured on video and in photographs carrying and throwing the sign. The sign landed about 3 feet from a police officer on duty under the bridge.

PAT PHEIFER