Anarchist Robert Thaxton sentenced to 7 years, 4 months
kk abacus (kk_abacus@yahoo.com)
Fri, 15 Oct 1999 12:28:24 -0700 (PDT)
The anarchist Robert Thaxton has been sentenced to 7
> years and 4 months in jail for allegedly throwing a
> rock at a cop. He is $14,000 in debt from his trial
> AND will need even more money for an appeal. The
> address for Rob's defense fund is:
>
> PO Box 11331
> Eugene, OR
> 97440
> USA
>
> Checks payable to John Zerzan
>
> The following is an article about his sentencing:
> Here is todays (10-14-99) Register Guard article on
> Rob:
>
> October 14, 1999
>
> Sentence for rioter: 7 years in prison
> By ERIC MORTENSON
>
> The Register-Guard
>
> Amid the fury of the June 18 riot in downtown
> Eugene,
> Robert Lee Thaxton
> <br>
> threw a softball-sized rock that hit a police
> officer
> in the upper right
> <br>
> chest and nearly broke his clavicle.
> <br>
> On Wednesday, a judge dropped the hammer on Thaxton.
> <br>
>
> <br>
> The self-described anarchist was sentenced to seven
> years and four months in
> prison, a surprisingly stiff term that police and
> prosecutors said should be
> a clear signal that violent social protest won't be
> tolerated.
> "That's about as strong a message as you can send, I
> would say"; said Steven
> Skelton, chief deputy in the Lane County district
> attorney's office. "In our
> view, that's an appropriate message to send.
> "Citizens have no more right to commit crimes during
> demonstrations than
> they do any other time" Skelton said. "This
> case
> is not about the
> expression of rights, it is about assaultive
> criminal
> behavior."
> Meanwhile, the attorney who defended Thaxton during
> his trial, Charles
> Porter, predicted that Thaxton's conviction will be
> overturned on appeal. Hesaid the district attorney's
> office did not disprove Thaxton's claim that he
> was acting in self-defense when he threw the rock.
> But
> Sgt. Larry Blackwell, the officer who was hit by the
> rock, said the sentence imposed by Judge Mary Ann
> Bearden ought to send a message not only to Thaxton,
> but to other rioters who threw rocks, hurt officers
> and damaged property but didn't get caught.
> "The main thing I wanted was some justice,"
> Blackwell said." I think I got
> justice. That was the whole thing; people think we
> were out for revenge, but
> I just wanted some justice."
>
> Thaxton, 39 and a native of Texas, was convicted
> Sept.
> 3 of second-degree
> assault and rioting. The assault charge is a Measure
> 11 crime, carrying amandatory minimum sentence of 70
> months - five years and 10 months in prison.
> The surprise came in the sentence tacked on for the
> rioting charge. Given
> Thaxton's record - car theft, drug possession and a
> minor theft charge - the
> presumptive sentence under state guidelines was
> probation
>
>
> However, Bearden chose to depart from the guidelines
> and sentenced Thaxton
> to 18 months in prison on that charge. What's more,
> she chose to make the
> terms consecutive rather than fold in the rioting
> sentence with the assault
> term.
>
> The total sentence adds up to 88 months, or seven
> years and four months.
> Thaxton could have fared worse. Blackwell said he
> might have shot Thaxton if
> he'd had time to react to the rock attack.
> "To him and the rioters, violence was a trivial part
> of this thing to them,"
> Blackwell said. "It bothers me, it's pretty
> distressing; officers are put in
> situations where we could have used deadly force.
> Being put in that position
> is not a very pleasant one."
>
> The June 18 riot sprang from an anarchists' protest
> downtown against global
>
> economic powers and other perceived oppressors. When
> the event heated up,
> rioters broke windows, pounded on cars, blocked
> traffic and threw rocks and
> bottles. Twenty people were arrested, eight officers
> were hurt, and one
> motorist who felt threatened hit an anarchist on the
> head with a wrench.
>
> Blackwell, supervisor of the department's Rapid
> Deployment Unit, or RDU, had
> been chasing another man just before Thaxton threw
> the
> rock. The man darted
> into a crowd, and Blackwell was hit on the helmet by
> a
> thrown bottle. He
> paused, then approached Thaxton.
>
>
>
> "Here, the evidence was uncontroverted," said
> Porter,
> the defense attorney.
> "It says in the (police) report: The sergeant moved
> first, then Rob threw
> the stone. It shows who the aggressor was."
> Thaxton testified during his trial that he was
> afraid
> Blackwell would hit him, and that he tried to throw
> the rock over Blackwell's head as a
> diversion so he could escape. He also said he was
> afraid to leave the scene
> because he thought he would be singled out and
> beaten.
> He admitted carrying the rock but said he had
> intended
> to smash the window
> of an unoccupied police car in retaliation for what
> he
> thought was police
> mistreatment of protesters.
> The rock hit Blackwell in the chest with such force
> that it bent his RDU
> insignia into a V shape. The rock hit under his
> clavicle and skittered up
> over his shoulder. Although Blackwell was wearing a
> protective vest, he was
> badly bruised. He said a doctor told him that his
> clavicle would have been
> shattered if the rock hadn't hit his unit pin. "The
> thing that bothered me the most was, when he
> testified
> he had a smile on his face," Blackwell said. "He
> said
> he was at the riot for four hours, he described it
> as
> festive, and he was afraid to leave.
> "It's an insult to me as well as other police
> officers
> who were injured, and
> any of the citizens who were attacked that day. In
> reality, he was the erson out there trying to hurt
> somebody."
>
>
>
>
> =====
>
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