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Charges Dropped Against Last of 'Garden Grove 5'

From the Nichi Bei Times Weekly September 21-27, 2006

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

On Sept. 15, Kurt Isobe — the only one of the immigration rights protesters dubbed by the media the “Garden Grove 5” to face trial — learned that the charges against him had been dismissed by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

On May 25, 2005, the then-18-year-old Yonsei attended a protest in opposition to the anti illegal Mexican immigrant militia, the Minuteman Project. By the day’s end he was in police custody, charged with felony assault, cruelty to animals, and covering one’s identity during the commission of a criminal offense. That day marked the beginning of a long legal battle that reached its end Sept. 15.

“It took a year and four months, but we finally got what we asked for,” Isobe told the Nichi Bei Times.

Isobe is a full-time student at Saddleback College. He says he works about 30 hours a week at a fast food chain in his native South Orange County. Making friends with co-workers — who would be directly affected by new immigration legislation — Isobe took an active interest in the issue of immigration.

“A lot of different things politicized me,” Isobe said. “Learning about U.S. history and my family history, the (World War II) internment, I became involved in cultural groups that support immigrant rights.”

When the Minuteman Project’s principal director Jim Gilchrist came to speak at the Garden Grove Women’s Civic Club, Isobe joined hundreds of others in protest.

What happened next is widely debated, with allegations of violence leveled against both Minuteman Project protesters and supporters.

A small faction of protesters reportedly hurled rocks and soda cans at the supporters and police officers.

Hal Netkin of Van Nuys, a Minuteman Project supporter, drove a van through a crowd of protesters, hospitalizing two with minor injuries.

Five protesters were arrested, including Isobe.

“When I was initially arrested I was tackled to the street,” Isobe recollects. “There was, I’d say, at least two, three, four police officers on top of me. I got a gash on my face, which I still have a scar from.”

After being booked, Isobe says he suffered further abuse.

“I was being escorted by a few jail guards and they were searching my clothing. I stripped down to my boxers, when they told me to pick up my shoes and walk towards the first cell, I got up and they grabbed me and pushed me against the wall.

“They said I stood up too fast,” he explained.

Isobe was accused of throwing a soda can and a “round, brown, golf ball-sized object” at police on horseback. His bail was initially set at $50,000, but that amount was later reduced by half due to the efforts of his attorney.

He spent three days in jail.

Isobe denied assaulting police or anyone else that day and decided to take his legal battle to a jury trial. He faced up to six years in state prison, if convicted.

Charges were dropped against two of the other Garden Grove 5 and the remaining two eventually copped plea bargains. Isobe had never met any of other “5” until the time of his arrest.

“I had a lot of opportunities to take a plea bargain,” Isobe said. “Personally I was pretty divided. I felt like, I really didn’t do this, so there is no evidence. The truth is on our side.”

His Superior Court case commenced about a year later. The charges filed against him by the district attorney were one count of felony deterring an executive officer from his duties, two counts of misdemeanor assault on a police horse, one count of misdemeanor assault on a police horse, and one count of misdemeanor wearing a mask bandana to commit a crime.

The physical evidence presented against Isobe was a soda can with no fingerprints. The prosecution’s main evidence, according to the Kurt Isobe Support Committee, was the testimony of two law enforcement officers, Sergeant Mike Martin and Officer Mike Viscomi, who had infiltrated the demonstration acting as a protester.

Neither officer could be reached as of press time.

“The amount of effort the prosecution put into the trial was amazing for a case in which no one was injured,” Cheryl Isobe, Kurt’s mother, said. “You would think it was a murder trial. I can’t believe they went to such lengths to try to prosecute a young man with no prior record.”

An attorney present at the scene and an independent videographer were the defense’s primary witnesses.

The trial ended on May 30, 2006 with a jury deadlocked in Isobe’s favor. The 19-year-old was found not guilty on two charges, but the jury had yet to reach a verdict on three of the counts, including “deterring an executive officer” and “misdemeanor assault on an officer.”

On June 23, the following court date, the district attorney announced that the case was to be retried, causing Isobe’s family considerable hardship, monetary and psychological.

A community fundraiser, complete with live music and food, for Isobe’s legal fees was scheduled for Sept. 16, in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, but it turned into more of a celebration.

The preceding day, Isobe was called back to court.

“We thought they were going to offer a plea bargain,” said Cindy Kato of the Kurt Isobe Support Committee. “When we got there it turns out the district attorney had dismissed all charges against Kurt.”

“I’m really happy that it’s all over,” Isobe said. “I’m pretty anxious to get back to living my life.”

The teenage activist said that he has learned much from his experience.

“I found the whole thing kind of eye-opening,” he said. “When you show up to these rallies, you can get charged for something you didn’t do. You have to expect the unexpected.

“I’m really grateful to know that there are a lot of people that stepped forward for me,” Isobe said of the support he received from the Los Angeles Japanese American community. “I just kinda realized the power that the community has when we come together and support each other.”