Activist & Movement Defense

Our office has represented countless individuals who have been arrested in the course of protest or acts of civil disobedience and charged with misdemeanors and/or felonies. They are, in many ways, oru favorite cases; there’s nothing quite like an unrepentant defendant, willing to go to great lengths to impose U.S. imperialism, police brutality, the fundamental wrongness of capitalism, and the need for environmental restoration. We strive to resolve these cases in a manner that leaves our clients free to protest another day. We also routinely take these cases to trial, and work hard to expose the injustice at the heart of the matter. 

Case summaries below:

PATRICIA OKOUMOU

On July 4, 2018, Patricia Okoumou climbed the Statue of Liberty to protest President Donald Trump’s policy of physically separating children from their parents at the Southern Border of the United States. Facing three federal misdemeanor charges for obstructive governmental functions, disorderly conduct and trespass, she refused to plead guilty and proceeded to trial. Denied a trial by jury of her peers, Ms. Okoumou testified in her own defense, and was ultimately convicted of all charges. Despite climbing a detention center in Texas between trial and sentencing, Ms. Okoumou avoided a sentence of incarceration, and was sentenced to five years’ probation. You can read about her struggle for a jury trial, her trial, and her sentencing here, here, and here.

JUMAANE WILLIAMS

For attempting to physically stop the deportation of nationally-recognized immigrant rights leader Ravi Ragbir, then-City Council Member and Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Jumaane Williams (now the Public Advocate) was charged with two misdemeanors in January 2018. Council Member Williams refused the District Attorney’s plea offer and proceeded to trial, arguing that he was justified for attempting to stop the deportation of his friend and colleague (that deportation was later ruled unconstitutional) and seeking to expose the profound overreaction of the police to the protests of that day (see: Ravi Ragbir in Ambulance, ICE is surrounded). Mr. Williams took the stand in his own defense, and was acquitted of one misdemeanor and convicted of the other. 

You can find more here and here.

Mr. Williams’ 20+ co-defendants (known as the Ravi Rousers, who also included City-Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez), were also represented by our office. See more here.

GREGORY LEE JOHNSON

On 22 August 1984, Johnson participated in a political demonstration called the "Republican War Chest Tour" in Dallas, Texas to protest the policies of several Dallas-area businesses and of the Ronald Reagan presidential administration. The demonstration was timed to coincide with the 1984 Republican National Convention being held in downtown Dallas.

At the culmination of the protest outside Dallas City Hall, Johnson poured kerosene on the flag and set it on fire. While the flag burned, he chanted political slogans, including "Reagan, Mondale which will it be? Either one means World War III;" "Ronald Reagan, killer of the hour, Perfect example of U.S. power;" and "red, white and blue, we spit on you, you stand for plunder, you will go under.” Some witnesses testified that they were seriously offended. No one was hurt or threatened with injury during the protest.

Johnson was convicted of the desecration of a venerated object in violation of Texas Penal Code Annotated § 42.11(a)(3), sentenced to one year in prison, and fined $2,000. Johnson’s conviction was overturned on appeal, after which the State of Texas asked the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the case. Mr. Johnson was presented by William Kunstler, Ron Kuby and David Cole; in 1989, the Supreme Court handed down a controversial 5-4 decision in favor of Gregory Johnson, holding that Johnson's conviction for flag desecration was inconsistent with the First Amendment. The Court's decision invalidated laws against flag desecration in force in forty-eight of the fifty states.

You can hear William Kunstler’s oral argument in the case here: