Last of RNC8 accept plea bargain, avoid jail

After two years of trials and hearings, the RNC 8 ordeal resolved Tuesday with plea hearings.

The remaining four RNC 8 defendants pleaded guilty at a packed court hearing to various offences stemming from their arrests over plans to “crash” the Republican National Convention in 2008. None of the defendants were ordered time in jail, and none were required to testify in subsequent related trials.

The defendants were originally charged with conspiracy to commit riot and furtherance of terrorism, said Mordecai Specktor, father of defendant Max Specktor. He said this was the first time this charge was brought under Minnesota’s version of the USA PATRIOT Act.

Three months later, the defendants were charged with three other felony charges by Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner. The terrorism charges were later dropped.

At the hearing, Gaertner reduced the felony charges to charges of conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property in the first degree and conspiracy to commit riot in the second degree as part of the plea agreement.

“It was a pragmatic decision to not expend any more criminal justice resources on the case,” Gaertner said.

The four remaining defendants accepted various fees between $200 and $1,000, probationary periods and community service sentences, but all avoided additional jail time.

With the possibility of the Democratic National Convention being in Minnesota in 2012, the RNC 8 Defense Committee warned the DNC against assembling here, said Betsy Raasch-Gilman, a member of the defense committee, after the hearing.

Before sentencing, three of the defendants had statements for the court.

“All these cases have been about the criminalization of dissent,” defendant Nathanael Secor said. “It is disingenuous to characterize me as a victim of the state.”

As a preschool substitute teacher, Garrett Fitzgerald related this ordeal to the Dr. Seuss children’s book, The Lorax, talking about the injustice of being tried for “activism.” The book is about fighting for environmental issues.

After reading for a minute, Fitzgerald was cut off by the judge for irrelevance.

In his statement, Specktor defended his 2008 actions, saying he refuses to “sleepwalk through life.”

Contrary to the statements of the defendants, the judge was adamant that the trial was not politically driven and was strictly about the criminal offenses.

“I think it was a good resolution of the case,” Gaertner said. “The defendants will be held accountable for what they admitted was criminal behavior. They will have an incentive to remain law-abiding.”

“A long, circus-like trial was avoided,” she said. “All the way around, [it was] a good result.”

Specktor’s father echoed this sentiment.

“Seven hundred and eighty days later we are standing here … the RNC 8 case is finally over with,” Mordecai Specktor said. “We’ve avoided what was going to be a lengthy trial.”

Fitzgerald said he didn’t think it was possible for the judicial system to be fair.

“I think that the fact we’ve been on trial for the past two years is unfair,” he said.

Gaernter blamed the defendants for the lengthy process.

“The defendants and their attorneys did everything they could to delay, delay, delay,” she said.

“If we were able to drive the train, it would have arrived at the station a long time ago.”