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Yesterday, Black Lives Matters activist Jasmine Richards was convicted of felony “lynching” and now faces up to a year in prison, according to the Pasadena Now newspaper.
Richards was originally charged late last summer when she and other Black Lives Matter activists interfered and tried to stop Pasadena Police Officers from arresting Benita Escoe, a 20-year-old black woman who had been put under citizen's arrest for battery when she tried to avoid paying for a meal.
Richards is the first African American ever to be tried in a courtroom on a lynching charge.
Until quite recently, “lynching” was legally defined “as taking, by means of a riot, of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer,” until the charge was renamed from “lynching” to “Attempting to Unlawfully Remove a Suspect from Police Officers.”
The incident occurred last August when Black Right Matter activists, who were relaxing in a local Pasadena Park after taking part in a rally, witnessed an altercation between a young black woman and a local restaurant owner. The woman eventually ran away from the restaurant owner, who was claiming that she had not paid for her food and, according to one witness, was “taking any type of physical force” to stop her.
The activist onlookers assumed that the black woman was being unfairly treated by the white storeowner and ran over to defend the woman. The police, who had been called during the original argument between Escoe and the storeowner, arrived to find Escoe across the street among the protesters.
To keep from agitating the BLM group, officers waited about half an hour until Escoe had left the park before detaining her. At that time, protesters intervened and tried to prevent the arrest. (Because obviously, when any white cop is arresting a black woman, the cop is obviously committing a hate crime.)
You can see the live footage of the arrest for yourself. If you look closely, you can see Richards among those who are interfering with the cops.
Even after Escoe was put into the police cruiser, Richards continued to fight against Escoe’s arrest. Richards even tried to block the cop cars from leaving, calling for others in the park to follow her example. A few of the protestors joined her, including an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old, but the cops soon peacefully broke up the barricade.
Richards was arrested three days later and charged with four crimes including inciting a riot, child endangerment, delaying and obstructing peace officers in the discharge of their duties, and lynching. Over the course of the trial, all charges were dropped except the lynching offense. A jury unanimously agreed Richards was guilty of the crime.
The BLM group protested Richard’s arrest and demanded her release, believing that neither Escoe nor Richards had done anything wrong. Richards reportedly yelled out as she was leaving the courtroom, “We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
I guess the judicial court begs to differ. The jury unanimously agreed that Richards should be charged. Richards will appear in court for sentencing on July 7.
Gyamfi, Richards’ attorney, claimed that the trial was merely a political prosecution, not a criminal one. She also claimed that the jury “could not tell the difference between a loud Black person and a violent Black person” or else the ruling would have been very different.
Since when does obstruction of justice and preventing cops from leaving the scene with a criminal not count as “dangerous?” It’s terrifying that the BLM activists could think that they did nothing wrong and that they are the targets of persecution for the right of free speech.
Free speech does not allow interfering with police officers. It can allow you to yell at cops and show your opinion, but it does not mean that you are above the law.