San Diego Man Facing 13 Years in Prison for Writing Anti Bank Slogans on Sidewalks Outside Banks
June 27th, 2013Update: Acquitted
Via: AP:
The mayor called the case “stupid” and a jury swiftly said it shouldn’t stick, taking the eraser to vandalism charges for a man who wrote anti-bank slogans on San Diego sidewalks.
A Superior Court jury deliberated for five hours after a four-day trial before acquitting Jeff Olson Monday of the 13 misdemeanor charges that could have brought 13 years in jail and $13,000 in fines.
Olson, 40, was charged with scrawling messages like “Shame on B of A” and `’No thanks, big banks” in water-soluble chalk on sidewalks outside San Diego Bank of America branches from April to August 2012. He included a drawing of an octopus reaching for dollar bills.
Olson turned to his attorney, nodded and smiled as the verdicts were read.
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Update: Judge Issues Gag Order
Via: San Diego Reader:
The judge in the case of the anti-Bank of America protester has issued a gag order, prohibiting the defendant or any witnesses from speaking to any members of the media.
…
The gag order came less than three hours after Olson appeared on the Mornings with Chip and Ladona radio show on KOGO. During the show, Olson was not shy with his opinions on the Bank of America security executive who continued to ask San Diego Police Officers and the City Attorney’s Office for prosecution as well as on other issues.
The decision is in addition to a previous ruling from Shore which prohibits Olson’s attorney Tom Tosdal from mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial.
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Via: CBS8:
A North Park man is looking at more than a decade behind bars for using washable chalk to protest the banking industry.
Jeff Olson is being charged with 13 counts of vandalism for writing anti-bank slogans on sidewalks outside three Bank of America branches.
A surveillance camera caught Olson in the act, writing on the sidewalk in front of a Bank of America in North Park. But here’s the thing — Olson admits it.
“I wrote ‘No thanks big banks,’ I wrote ‘Shame on Bank of America,'” he said.
As in this case, I sometimes shoot off an email to the authorities involved in such cases telling them stuff like this makes them look like idiots to the international community. I do this in the hope that, though their sense of justice, civic responsibility and reason may have become stunted and grotesque, they may still, in their hubris, respond to the fear of humiliation and embarrassment.