Thread by @UR_Ninja

On Weds morning three organizers of an Atlanta bail fund providing legal support to #StopCopCity protesters were raided and arrested.

They’re charged with money laundering and charity fraud, with routine expense reimbursements cited as evidence.

unicornriot.ninja/2023/three-atl…

Their first court appearance, a bond hearing, is getting underway now and can be watched here: youtube.com/live/PBpuaGb1Q…

The Atlanta Community Press Collective is live-tweeting:

https://twitter.com/acpc_live/status/1664679381849997323

Georgia Deputy Attorney General John Fowler is claiming the three bail fund organizers - Marlon Kautz, Savannah Patterson, and Adele Maclean - harbor “extreme anti-government and anti-establishment views.”

Deputy AG Fowler claims that they raise funds to support violence, so far he is referring to to 2020 George Floyd protests and to protesters wearing black allegedly engaging in property destruction - without linking these acts to these defendants.

Fowler claims that the defendants have misled donors by using funds via the Forest Defense Fund, again describing criminals acts at various protests without appearing to directly link these things to these defendants.

Defense attorney Don Samuels asks Deputy AG Fowler to clarify what he means when he keeps referring to a “group” committing crimes wearing black, and if that group includes his clients.

Fowler returns to a general description of events around ‘Cop City.’

Fowler claims that funds protesters allegedly being reimbursed via the Forest Justice Defense Fund over PayPal or Venmo “was used to attack police” and that “anti-establishment belief is driving all of this… they have harbored these beliefs.”

Fowler refers to documents found in the home and claims a diary found in a “trash pull” included the quote “radicalizing liberals using subversive materials without encouraging state solutions.”

Deputy AG John Fowler asks for all 3 defendants to be denied bond, citing their role in leading the Atlanta Solidarity Fund as why they should be denied. He says their “anti-government views” “make them a flight risk.”

Defense attorney Don Samuels is speaking now, says Deputy AG Fowler has been engaging in “hyperbole… grouping everybody together…without making it clear what we are talking about.”

Samuels is “concerned about blurring the First Amendment… the notion that the Atlanta Solidarity Fund should somehow be responsible for everything… seems unbelievably unjust…”

“If you look at these warrants of what they’ve done with the money…$37.11 to build yard signs… what could be more First Amendment activity… helping people get out of jail and they pay for their lawyers…if the prosecutor wanted to he could make a lot of arguments about… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

“The fact that what you do happens to help some people do bad things doesn’t mean that you’ve joined in a conspiracy…you have to knowingly do it for that purpose in order to be culpable…“

“Even if you look at the warrants…it’s unclear what the reasons are…buying food, bailing people out of jail… buying gas… I’m sure the prosecution would like you to believe that’s for a Molotov cocktail… people are required to submit receipts for all of this.”

Samuels points out one defendant’s warrant cites her car repair reimbursements as evidence of charity fraud.

Samuels says none of the defendants have felony records, all have lived in Georgia for years and aren’t a flight risk

According to Samuels at least one of the defendants has been held in solitary since her arrest and has been denied medications she needs for serious conditions.

Judge James Altman tells Deputy AG Fowler he can’t consider future evidence in the case but charges some of Samuels’ concerns about “the line between legitimate dissent…whether that speech is something we like or not…and…illegal violent acts.”

“The specifics of the allegations in here… simply providing a wifi hotspot…paying for camping supplies… I don’t find it impressive.” - Judge James Altman

Judge Altman discusses granting bond with these conditions:

No contact with or social media posting about the case (and presumably the wider #StopCopCity movement also)

- notably prosecutors can bring a case destined to flop while still getting the short-term result of forcing… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Deputy AG Fowler wants a bond condition to include “do not operate the Forest Justice Defense Fund” - claiming without offering evidence that this fund is itself illegal activity

Fowler asks for a bind condition to not support any activity in the forest, Judge Altman says “no illegal activity in the forest”

Judge Altman grants bond over Deputy AG Fowler’s wishes at $15K each to Kautz, Patterson, and Maclean.

Conditions include reporting to pre-trial services, turning in passports (“reasonable” travel ok), attending future court dates and not discussing the case on social media.

“Good luck to the defendants, the case sounds like it should be interesting…”

-DeKalb County Judge James Altman ending today’s bond hearing after Wednesday’s unprecedented raid and arrest of Atlanta bail fund organizers