As WMRA previously reported, three political demonstrators have ongoing court cases in Shenandoah County for defying state troopers' demands that they leave two different bridges on two separate occasions. In court on Tuesday, bailiffs initially prevented members of the public from entering the courtroom, while prosecutors agreed to abandon one charge that was improperly applied to the protesters. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The three defendants at the center of the story are Joan Griffin of Basye, Shelley Gingerich of Woodstock, and Mike Dart of Rileyville.
Joan Griffin was part of the large group of Shenandoah Democrats and generally anti-Trump protesters who have gathered in Woodstock every week since March, prompting the installation of Virginia Department of Transportation signs prohibiting any "non-travel" uses of the I-81 overpass there – including "assembly." On August 23rd, Griffin continued to walk across the bridge after being told not to by state police, and was issued a citation for loitering – which is equivalent to a traffic infraction, and not a criminal offense. Griffin is a retired telecommunications attorney and will be fighting the charge herself.
JOAN GRIFFIN: It just raised the question for me, which, I don't obviously know the answer to, of whether someone wants to silence us, and I felt that … I kind of took it from John Lewis that this was "good trouble." … that I could at least raise my voice, and that's really what I wanted to do.
Shelley Gingerich and Mike Dart were among about 12 people who gathered on the overpass in Quicksburg on Labor Day, and were quickly met by about a dozen state police cars. Gingerich and Dart were arrested and detained in a holding cell while troopers and a magistrate discussed what crimes to charge them with – during which time Dart says he never saw or spoke to the magistrate. They were eventually given three criminal charges each – for obstruction of justice without force, trespassing, and a highway violation.
[crowd chatter]
On Tuesday morning, Griffin and Gingerich each had hearings in the Shenandoah County General District Court. More than 40 people gathered outside the courthouse in support – bearing American and pride flags and signs invoking the First Amendment.
When I arrived, multiple people told me they had been prevented from entering the courtroom – including a retired attorney. There was a sign posted on the door stating that due to the number of cases scheduled that day – it was traffic court day – only defendants would be allowed in. I identified myself to the deputies as a member of the press and was given entry. Freeda Cathcart, the founder of Indivisible Virginia, an organization that opposes the Trump administration's agenda, had more difficulty.
FREEDA CATHCART: Well, when I first tried to go in, they said that they weren't allowing anybody in, and I identified myself as a journalist, as a published journalist. … And they still weren't going to let me go in, and I said, "well I would like you to verify with a judge that she knows the press is outside and that you're preventing them from going in," and then they came out and said, "well, now you can go in."
The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently recognized the public's and the press' right of access to criminal proceedings under the First Amendment, as upheld in the 1980 case Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia.
In the courtroom, after several reckless driving, tinted window, and expired registration cases, Gingerich was called up to the defendants' table. Chief Judge Amy B. Tisinger said one of her three charges – the highway violation – was improperly written as a county code violation, when, in fact, it came from an expired state code, and so would not be prosecuted. Gingerich said she would hire her own attorney to defend her against the other two charges.
Judge Tisinger said in passing at the end of the hearing that "no formal arrest process occurred." That contradicts both Gingerich and Dart's accounts of being handcuffed and held for multiple hours, and an email from state police confirming that they did arrest them that day.
I caught up with them outside.
MIKE DART: I think the judge is going to be very surprised when they find the evidence shows there was a formal arrest and there was over three hours of incarceration, handcuffs, bellies on the hood, the whole nine yards.
SHELLEY GINGERICH: I wasn't very sure about what she said or meant about not being arrested, because it sure felt like it to me!
Gingerich's improperly written highway violation charge ended in a "nolle prosequi," a Latin term which means the commonwealth's attorney declines to prosecute it. But Dart, a retired probation and parole officer, said that technically means it could be brought back on the table.
DART: I want a dismissal on that charge. But it also shows that this thing has been a circus. It has been nothing like what I've seen in the criminal justice system that I served in for all those years.
Four people in the crowd were part of the New River Valley Visibility Brigade, which held weekly protests on a pedestrian bridge near Blacksburg from mid-July until September, when the same VDOT signs that were put up in Woodstock prohibiting assembly were installed down there.
Lora Brown said they made the trek to Shenandoah County –
LORA BROWN: … in solidarity with a group that's doing similar things that we're already doing. … Solidarity, and also just to see how it went in court because we're upset about not being able to be on our bridge.
Dart has a hearing scheduled for next week; Gingerich and Griffin are due back in court in December.
