I Was Convicted Of Felonies After Antifa Attacked Me

I Was Convicted Of Felonies After Antifa Attacked Me

by Michael Strickland

Before Michael Forest Reinoehl shot Aaron Danielson. Before Kyle Rittenhouse. Before Marquise Love punted Adam Haner’s head into the ground. Before the McCloskeys. Before Jake Gardner in Omaha. Before the Albuquerque guy shot people shouting they were going to kill him.

Before Andy Ngo was attacked. Before Joey Gibson and Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys. Before riots were commonplace in Portland. Before everyone and their mother were accused of being white supremacists. Before “antifa” was a household term. Before Trump was even the nominee for President.

There was me.

My name is Michael Strickland. Some of you may remember me from my YouTube channel Laughing At Liberals.

On July 7th, 2016, I was filming a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Portland. This was before one could assume that violence and destruction were going to happen. I was just standing there, holding a video camera on a monopod, filming the speakers on the steps of the Justice Center.

A gang of antifa thugs made the conscious and deliberate decision to stage a physical altercation with me. They made a b-line right for me and started attacking me. I tried to get away, they kept coming after me, and with no police around, I eventually drew down on them with my legally carried Glock 27. Fortunately they all stopped coming at me at that moment, they ceased to be threats, and I reholstered, without firing a shot. Every move I made was in reaction to what other people were doing to me.

I reholstered after having my gun out for 7 seconds, just enough time to neutralize the threats. I was in a bit of a state of shock. I couldn’t believe I was in that predicament and I had to draw. I continued to retreat up the block until police eventually showed up. To arrest me.

I attempted to explain that I had been attacked and that my actions were in self defense and that I had a Concealed Handgun License, but they didn’t care about anything I had to say. They didn’t even want to watch the video of it on my camera. They threw me in jail.

Deputy District Attorney Kate Molina then cited a false police report at my arraignment involving a completely separate matter, and used it as justification for charging me with felonies and keeping me in jail on $250,000 bond.

While I was out on bail, pre-trial release officer Chelsea Fonua ordered that I be banned from blogging, banned from talking to the media, banned from posting videos, banned from twitter, banned from even going to political events.

My own first-person video, which is the only angle that showed the initial attack by the mob, was ordered as sealed evidence by Judge Thomas Ryan. Also part of the sealed evidence was video taken from the Hatfield Courthouse surveillance cameras that shows the gang huddling up. All the public got to see was what the news cameras picked up, which was the seven seconds I had the gun, yelling “Everyone needs to get the hell back! Get the hell back!” with no context.

After a trial in February of 2017, where many pieces of exculpatory evidence were ruled inadmissible and many due process rights violations were committed against me, I was found guilty of 21 counts, including 10 felonies of “Unlawful Use Of A Weapon”, all for not harming so much as a fly and trying to get away to avoid an altercation. The violent thugs who started the fight are considered to be the innocent victims.

I was sentenced to 40 days in jail, 240 hours of community service, and 3 years of probation. I was banned from filming political events or anything at the local colleges. Had I done that, it would have been a violation of my probation and I would have been thrown in prison.

Since this incident, violence and riots have been common in Portland. A short time after this we saw the election week riots. Then the inauguration week riots. Then more May Day riots. Then the dueling protests between antifa and Trump supporters. Then the antifa and BLM gangs patrolling the streets, directing people around, smashing up cars when someone takes offense. Then the 120 days of nightly riots this summer.

My case set the standard for legalized mob violence, while also invalidating the 1st and 2nd Amendment. The gangs of terrorists know they have the legal authority to attack whomever they want in the street, and not only face no consequences for it, but the person they target is the one who goes to jail for fighting back. Violence is now incentivized.

Three years later, spring of 2020, the state appeals court upheld the lower court’s ruling. The appeals court did this relying on several erroneous things that they referred to as “undisputed facts” that were in fact heavily disputed throughout the trial.

I am now in the process of petitioning the Supreme Court Of The United States to hear my case.

Regarding the 1st Amendment: Does a person have the right to be in public area, filming a public event, as part of their job, and in exercise of their right to free press? Or does a gang of thugs have the legal right and lawful authority to use force, threats, and intimidation to prevent a person from engaging in their 1st Amendment rights? If the gang of thugs does not have that right, then they used unlawful force against me, thus meeting the threshold for exercising self defense.

Secondly, can the courts threaten someone with imprisonment for engaging in 1st Amendment rights?

The 2nd Amendment ramifications are obvious. Can a person draw their firearm in self defense against a mob that the person believes is engaging in unlawful force, potentially deadly force, and further imminent unlawful force?

There are a litany of due process rights violations that have been committed against me at various different aspects:

If they can do these things to me, they can do it to anyone. They can do it to you, your family, your loved ones, your doctor, your auto mechanic, your neighbor. I have no doubt that shady police, unethical DA’s, and crooked judges are using these tactics to lock up innocent people every day. This is our best chance to overturn these practices. I am fighting not just for my rights, not just to clear my name, but for everyone’s rights. Help me win this for all of us.

Many people ask what they can do to help. Well, most pressing is raising funds to pay the attorneys. I usually hate begging for money, but it all goes to pay for the attorneys and other legal costs. I have a PayPal set up at paypal.me/StricklandLegalFund and Oregon Firearms Federation has been gracious enough to once again take donations for my fund via their site, https://www.oregonfirearms.org/join-support-off , just please make a note on the check-out page that it’s for my fund so they know where to allocate the money.

Reprinted with Permission
Read full story at Gateway Pundit
Further articles at VictoriaTaft.com
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