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A Superior Courtroom decide on Thursday denied bail once more for a bunch of activists dubbed the “Justice 8” who’ve been in jail for 2 weeks dealing with fees stemming from protests in San Bernardino County and elsewhere.
Prosecutors allege Edin Alex Enamorado and different avenue vendor advocates have carried out intimidation ways, exhibiting up at workplaces and houses of individuals focused in his social media campaigns, that are supposed to publicly disgrace clients who assault distributors or those that make racist feedback.
Enamorado, 36, and 7 different activists had been arrested Dec. 14 amid what authorities described as a months-long assault investigation after a Sept. 3 protest in L.A. County and one other in Victorville on Sept. 24. The investigation grew to contain police from different cities within the Inland Empire, together with Upland, Fontana and Pomona, who contended that the suspects had been concerned in different “violent acts throughout protests” in these cities.
On his Instagram accounts, which have lots of of 1000’s of followers, Enamorado has shared movies of avenue distributors being harassed, elected officers making racist feedback and police making violent arrests.
However San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus stated after their arrest that the group members had manipulated movies to make themselves appear like crusaders. And in doing so, Dicus stated, they harassed the themes of their movies to realize consideration, views and monetary revenue.
“This group just isn’t about substance for the human situation,” Dicus stated throughout a information convention earlier this month, “however somewhat clickbait for money.”
Expenses in opposition to the group embody false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault, vandalism and illegal use of tear gasoline , in accordance with court docket paperwork.
Along with Enamorado, these arrested had been his accomplice, Wendy Lujan, 40, of Upland; David Chavez, 28, of Riverside; Stephanie Amesquita, 33, of San Bernardino; Gullit Eder Acevedo, 30, of San Bernardino; Edwin Pena, 26, of Los Angeles; Fernando Lopez, 44, of Los Angeles; and Vanessa Carrasco, 40, of Ontario. All have been charged with finishing up violent assaults in opposition to three victims, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
Luhan was not in court docket Thursday; she is scheduled to look subsequent week.
Prosecutors have repeatedly sought to maintain the people behind bars, saying they pose a hazard to the general public. Final week, a decide ordered the group held with out bail. At a listening to Thursday, the San Bernardino County district legal professional’s workplace made the identical argument.
Decide Melissa Rodriguez granted bail to just one defendant: Acevedo. The schoolteacher was ordered to haven’t any contact with anybody else concerned the case, together with any alleged victims. Acevedo will probably be required to put on an ankle monitor and keep off social media.
“No contact means no contact,” Rodriguez stated.
The remainder of the defendants had been held with out bail after being discovered to be a hazard to the group as effectively to because the victims within the case. Prosecutors referenced one picture of a piñata with a sufferer’s face superimposed on the article. One other sufferer fears that protesters will present up at their house and has gone into hiding, in accordance with prosecutors. A brand new listening to was scheduled for Jan. 3.
Enamorado’s legal professional, Nicholas Rosenberg, stated outdoors the courthouse Thursday he didn’t agree with the decide’s evaluation of his shopper, calling Enamorado an essential member of the group.
“Look, the struggle just isn’t over,” Rosenberg stated.
Carasco’s legal professional, Damon Alimouri, known as the court docket’s no-bail resolution “outrageous” and unconstitutional.
Enamorado began out as a political organizer however is thought for his activism round avenue distributors. In June, he posted a TikTok video that since has been eliminated exhibiting the mess created after a pair of meals carts had been overturned outdoors a live performance at SoFi Stadium.
Enamorado instructed The Instances he didn’t witness the incident however the distributors instructed him a stadium employee instructed them to step again off the road after which misplaced his mood once they ignored his directives. The employee, who SoFi Stadium officers stated was employed by a third-party vendor, was later fired.
In September, Enamorado organized a big protest on the steps of the Santa Barbara Police Division after a viral video exhibiting a racist change between a white girl and a Latino man roiled the town.
He and the others within the group face 17 fees in San Bernardino County — nearly all of that are felonies — from two September incidents. On Sept. 3, prosecutors say a number of members chased a safety guard right into a grocery store and pepper-sprayed him whereas he was on the bottom. They then beat the guard, authorities stated. On Sept. 24, Enamorado and the others organized a protest after a viral video confirmed a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy slamming a lady to the bottom throughout a brawl at a highschool soccer sport.
Attorneys representing Enamorado and the opposite defendants say they had been protesting police violence and the harassment of a avenue vendor on the time.
Instances employees author Jeremy Childs contributed to this report.
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