>>21193331

4/5

At one moment, the runaround turned into a full circle:The prosecution encouraged defense attorneys to reach out to the FBI. The FBI told them to talk to the city prosecutors.

And even when the city shared the FBI’s electronic copy of the data, it wasn’t good enough, Mihara said. His digital forensics expert testified that the data was wildly incomplete. They needed to see the physical phone itself.

That was impossible, as prosecutors formally acknowledged in court Aug. 2. =They didn’t have the power to tell the FBI to give the phone back=. Legally, at least, the evidence was lost. Several judges weren’t happy.

“There is no faith in the process when the prosecutor can play hide the ball with evidence,” Judge Randles said.

Hunter had argued that even if a cellphone video of Patriot Front leaders urging nonviolence did exist — and that was doubtful — it was irrelevant.Patriot Front wasn’t even being accused of planning violence, just of “disturbing the peace.”

Yet the frustration in courtrooms over the prosecution’s approach was building. =Court transcripts show a litany of complaints from several judges==: Prosecutors had released evidence to the defense in “drips and drabs.” Filings were coming in late. Necessary objections weren’t being properly filed. Court orders to disclose weren’t being followed. The city would claim they’d turned over everything, only to announce they found more they needed to turn over.

==Finally, one judge had had enough.=

“I have never, in my 10 years, seen anything that even approaches this level of failure to properly disclose evidence,” Randles said, according to court transcripts.

“My client looks forward to the day that this case is ultimately put to rest in his favor,” Mihara wrote in a statement to InvestigateWest.

But for now, Rousseau — the man behind everything — has been able to walk away.

CIVIL ACTION

This January,19 months after police caught him in the U-Haul, Rousseau marched through New York wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat— no mask, no Idaho criminal conviction — and shared a message of defiance.

“Every day, every year we're going to stay out here,” Rousseau told onlookers in a video shared on social media. “We're going to keep doing demonstrations. We're going to keep making ourselves known.”

Rousseau did not respond to an interview request InvestigateWest sent to his phone number listed on court documents.

Goldsmith, from the anti-fascist research organization, has argued that there’s a slew of strategies the FBI could take against Rousseau, including getting him on tax evasion.(why would they, these people are their own psyop)

“The FBI has everything they need to take down this little gangster-wanna-be and his crew of neo-Nazis,”Goldsmith said.

But Coeur d’Alene’s history suggests another course, which has often been the more reliable route for those aiming to take on extremists. Ultimately, it was a civil lawsuit, brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center nearly 25 years ago, that bankrupted the Aryan Nations and forced them to sell their compound.

https://cdapress.com/news/2024/feb/10/how-prosecutors-lost-the-case-against-patriot-fronts-white-nationalist-leader/

>>21193355

5/5

In August, he dismissed the case against one Patriot Front defendant, Richard Jessop of Idaho. In November, Judge Cafferty followed suit, dismissing the case against Rousseau.

When judges did allow the Patriot Front cases to reach the jury, however, the Coeur d’Alene prosecutors had been undefeated. Juries were convinced by the prosecutors’ arguments that ==while Patriot Front had the free speech right to protest, their “anarchist tactics of unlawfully violating other people's First Amendment rights should not be tolerated=.”

Seven Patriot Front members were convicted of conspiracy to riot —sentenced to a few days in jail, a year or two of probation, a $1,000 fine, and were banned from the area around the park (Mihara is representing four of them on appeal). Twenty took plea deals, copping to participating in a parade without a permit and getting off with a fine. Four, including the videographer, have bench warrants out for their arrest.

And the Patriot Front phone with the child porn on it? It belonged to Patriot Front member Jared Boyce of Utah. He was convicted on multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and sentenced to a year in jail.

Coeur d’Alene is appealing two cases that had been dismissed, though Somerton, one of the two prosecutors overseeing it, is retiring in April.

In fact, civil cases, with their lower burdens of proof, have often been the more reliable route for those aiming to take on extremists. They were used against the organizers of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. And they’re already being used elsewhere against Patriot Front.

Less than a month after being arrested in Idaho, Patriot Front marched in Boston, where they allegedly kicked, punched and beat with their metal shields a Black musician who confronted them. Today, he’s suing them.

While Patriot Front may gloat about its victory in Idaho, Tischauser, with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the white nationalist group appears weaker these days. Even in Texas, Rousseau's home base, he said, the amount of Patriot Front flyers being distributed has fallen by 30%.

He believes the culmination of all the litigation is taking its toll.

Even a failed prosecution can be valuable in the long term, Goldsmith said.

“The evidence that comes out in discovery is enough to establish what will be criminal and civil liability in other jurisdictions,” Goldsmith said. “Tom Rousseau will fade into irrelevance and will spend the rest of his life in debt … And those around him, the top lieutenants in Patriot Front, will be tied to him like an anchor.”

https://cdapress.com/news/2024/feb/10/how-prosecutors-lost-the-case-against-patriot-fronts-white-nationalist-leader/

InvestigateWest (invw.org) is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest. A Report for America corps member, Daniel Walters covers democracy and extremism across the region. He can be reached at daniel@invw.org.

>>21193288

Sure seems like the FBI did not want to help the police, prosecutors or judges in the case against Patriot Front, so bizarro

Dan Bongino thinks this group or others, will be or could be used by the FBI and IC for an October surprise before 2024 election. They’ve used these groups before and be very careful who you let in your group, if they look or act radical they are probably radical