PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW) — A Multnomah County Circuit Court judge dismissed felony riot charges against Patriot Prayer members Joey Gibson and Russell Schultz on Tuesday, partially cutting short a trial that began Monday and was expected to last all week.
Gibson, Schultz and a third defendant, Mackenzie Lewis, were accused of instigating a brawl between a group of Patriot Prayer members and far-left antifa members at the former Cider Riot pub in Northeast Portland on May 1, 2019.
During opening statements Monday, prosecutors showed jurors videos of the incident. In one clip, Gibson can be seen and heard saying, “do something, do something” and “they took the bait.”
Gibson’s lawyer said his client was standing on a public sidewalk and after being spat on, kicked and slashed at with a knife, didn’t act out violently. The attorney said Gibson instead told people to leave and put their weapons away.
At about noon Tuesday, Judge Benjamin Souede announced that he would grant acquittal motions from Gibson and Schultz and throw out the charges, saying that prosecutors had failed to provide evidence that the defendants engaged in riot, which under Oregon law involves “tumultuous and violent conduct.”
“I do not find this to be a close question,” he said. “I am somewhat bewildered that the state has driven the case to this point.”
He did not grant a similar motion from Lewis, citing evidence that Lewis at one point picked up a canister and threw it, and at another point shoved a woman.
Souede said there was enough evidence that a juror could reasonably conclude that the Patriot Prayer members decided to go “bother” or “troll” the group at the pub with “an adult version of ‘I’m not touching you,'” and that the subsequent violence was planned and not an accident.
“But,” he added, “the reality is that much of that evidence has very little to do with what’s at issue in this trial and on these motions and in these cases. These defendants are not charged with inciting anything, or with encouraging anything or with provoking anything.”
Prosecutors chose to only bring the charge of riot against each defendant, he said, so the motions for acquittal hinged solely on that charge. Oregon case law makes it clear that “violent and tumultuous” conduct refers to physical actions and cannot include speech or expressive conduct like gestures, he added.
“This case is not about speech,” he said.
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