MURRIETA: Six charged in Border Patrol protests
MURRIETA: Six charged in Border Patrol protests
Five of those arrested,who were supporting the migrants, have been charged with a misdemeanor and a felony. The sixth, charged with a misdemeanor, was opposing illegal immigration.
BY SARAH BURGE / STAFF WRITER
Published: Sept. 3, 2014 Updated: 5:58 p.m.
Six people have been charged in connection with the July immigration protests outside the U.S. Border Patrol Station in Murrieta that landed the city in the national media limelight.
Their arrests came during heated protests July 4, three days after a group of anti-illegal immigration protesters turned away buses of Central American migrants who federal officers were attempting to bring to the station for processing.
Five of those arrested – all supporters of the migrants – have been charged with a misdemeanor and a felony. The sixth, charged with a misdemeanor, was an anti-illegal immigration protester.
Jessica Rey, 25, of Menifee; Janet Mathieson, 22, of Claremont; and Jacqueline Sanchez, 26, of Los Angeles pleaded not guilty Wednesday at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley. Pouyan Bokaei, 33, and Salvador Chavez, 24, both of Los Angeles pleaded not guilty last week.
They each are charged with misdemeanor obstruction of an officer and felony lynching – defined under California law as taking a person from the lawful custody of an officer by means of a riot. Additionally, Mathieson is charged with misdemeanor battery on an officer.
“I believe no crime was committed and that a lot of the events were misreported the day of. And, of course, we couldn’t correct them because we were in jail,” said Rey, one the pro-migrant defendants, after her arraignment.
“It feels like there was selective enforcement on behalf of the police to protect the anti-immigration protesters,” Rey added.
Defense attorney Gerald Singleton accused police of using excessive force, saying one defendant suffered broken ribs and another was placed in a choke hold, even though neither was resisting officers.
Murrieta police Capt. Rob Firmes said the officers handled the situation appropriately and, in fact, showed “tremendous restraint,” based on the evidence he has seen.
“I was actually quite proud of the way they behaved,” Firmes said.
Bokaei remarked on the irony of protesters who were “just exercising their First Amendment rights” being accused of lynching, which is historically associated with the abduction and murder of minorities by white vigilantes.
Authorities have said police tried to arrest Mathieson for obstructing an officer and Bokaei intervened. They said Mathieson jumped on an officer’s back and the other three defendants joined in the effort to free her and Bokaei.
Mathieson, who appeared for her arraignment without a lawyer, created a stir in the courtroom Wednesday when she refused to identify herself. She told Judge Judith Clark she would prefer to be referred to as “Jane Doe.”
“I don’t know if any of us can lay claim to a name,” she said.
After a fruitless exchange in which Mathieson told the Clark “we are all here in peace” and asked if it was time to “zero-out the account,” the judge declared that Mathieson was not capable of cooperating and appointed the Public Defender’s Office to represent her.
The anti-illegal immigration protester, Larry Spencer, 56, of Hemet is charged with obstructing an officer in connection with a separate incident outside the Border Patrol station. He was in court Tuesday but did not enter a plea.
According to police, Spencer was arrested after he refused to move out of an area where officers were setting up operations. He encouraged other protesters to join him, police said.
“I got arrested for speaking in the wrong spot,” Spencer said by phone Tuesday, referring to himself as a patriot and adding that he doesn’t believe he did anything illegal.
Spencer was handcuffed, taken to the police station and later released. He said he took a taxi back to the protest and was there when the five defendants on the opposing side got arrested.
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