Police and protesters scuffle on Inauguration Day in D.C. (Photo by Scott Heins)

There are new felony charges for Inauguration Day protesters accused of rioting, and at least one organizer has been indicted since D.C. Police raided his home last month.

More than 200 people are facing felony charges after their arrests by D.C. Police on Inauguration Day during a series of protests and scuffles with law enforcement.

Many of the people facing felony riot charges say they had nothing to do with the window smashing and fires near Franklin Square that day, and are instead being prosecuted for their proximity to the event.

A court filing from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C., which calls the event a “violent riot,” says it caused more than $100,000 in damages to buildings, property, and vehicles, and minor injuries to six officers.

In D.C. Superior Court late last week, a grand jury returned additional charges for 212 of the defendants: one count of inciting or urging to riot, one count of engaging in rioting, one count of conspiracy to riot, and five counts of destruction of property.

Some of those defendants are additionally facing new charges like destruction of property. One hundred people are being charged with a misdemeanor assault on a police officer. Prosecutors have also dropped charges against three people.

In addition to the new charges for those who’ve already been looking at the felony riot charges, there are also three new defendants, including Dylan Petrohilos, a web designer whose home was searched by D.C. Police earlier in April. MPD seized computers, cellphones, and an “anti-capitalist, anti-fascist” flag, according to court documents. The warrant for the search indicated that police had also infiltrated several meetings of J20, the collective group planning many of the Inauguration Day demonstrations, The Washington Post reported.

Lawyers familiar with the District said that the initial mass felony charges were an “unprecedented” departure from previous policy. The day after the initial arrests, lawyers for a a number of the demonstrators filed a class action lawsuit against the police, alleging false arrests and excessive force. The Office of Police Complaints called for an independent investigation into law enforcement actions that day.

“We were fully aware of the possibility of additional charges, but the indiscriminate nature of the charges is outrageous,” says Sam Menefee-Libey, a spokesperson for support group Dead City Legal Posse, which formed to help defendants with housing, travel reimbursements, and hospitality, and has raised upwards of tens of thousands of dollars.

The new indictment outlines what happened that day, from the perspective of prosecutors, going through a tick-tock account—often down to the minute—of the protesters’ march through downtown.

Some of the indictment describes the specific destruction and defacement of property, at times naming individuals the USAO says is guilty of the act. However, one “overt act” includes chants critical of capitalism.

lt was a part of this riot that, beginning at about 10:21 AM and continuing until 10:52 AM on January 20, 2017, individuals participating in the Black Bloc cheered and celebrated the violence and destruction by participants in the Black Bloc, and also chanted “Fuck it up,” “Fuck Capitalism,” and “Whose streets? Our streets” prior to, during, and after acts of violence and destruction.

MPD does not comment on ongoing investigations, nor does the U.S. Attorney’s Office of D.C.

The trials for the accused rioters won’t begin until March 2018 at the earliest, reports The Post, so defense lawyers can look at the more than 650 hours of video available through cell phones, police body cameras, and helicopter cameras.

Prosecutors have been mining nearly 200 phones confiscated on Inauguration Day from arrestees (including journalists and legal observers) for data.

On Friday, Dane Powell of Tampa, 31, pled guilty to breaking windows and throwing a heavy object at uniformed law enforcement, as well as “being part of a group of rioters who moved approximately 16 blocks over a period of more than 30 minutes,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. It was prosecutors’ first felony guilty plea in the investigation. Powell faces about 12 to 36 months in prison for each of his two charges—felony rioting and assaulting a police officer. He will be sentenced on July 7.

Two people charged with felony rioting, a charge that comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, have so far pleaded down to misdemeanors.

Menafee-Libbey, of Dead City Legal Posse, says that “overcharging is a normal tactic” designed to force demonstrators to plead down. Many of the defendants have pledged to reject any plea deal and instead seek trials to “vindicate ourselves and our actions,” as well as agreeing not to cooperate or provide any evidence, as first reported by Buzzfeed. “While we do not pass judgement on those who take plea bargains, we stand against the state’s attempts to divide us and strike fear into our political movements.”

The new charges will not have a major effect on the work for Dead City Legal Posse, which continues to raise money for defendants. “This doesn’t actually change what we’re doing,” says Menafee-Libbey. “The charges were draconian before, they’re even more draconian now.”

Legba Carrefour, an organizer of J20 who works with Dead City Legal Posse, says that the police have called him more than six times in an attempt to interrogate him about that day. (MPD won’t comment.) Since then, “I took some commonsense steps to clean out my apartment, but otherwise it’s business as usual,” he says.

Carrefour has been doing in-court support for Dead City Legal Posse. “I go to every hearing that happens,” he says. “I take notes, I observe, I am nice and friendly to defendants and give them food and coffee. I’m the one who goes to court every day and that’s going to be going on for the foreseeable future. This could easily go on for years.”

Felony Rioting – Superseding Indictment – April 27, 2017 by Rachel Kurzius on Scribd