The Black Lives Matter activist who was arrested at a rally in Pasadena, California, in August 2015, and charged with “lynching” for pulling a woman away from police has been released from jail on bail, according to Pasadena Star News.
Jasmine Richards was facing up to four years in jail for “attempting to unlawfully take a person from custody by means of a riot,” but received a sentence of 90 days.
The uproar about her arrest was centered around the term “felony lynching,” which originally entered into law to prevent mobs from grabbing Black people from police custody to take justice into their own hands – or lynch them.
Using that term to then convict a BLM activist was a legislative slap in the face for the movement.
From the Pasadena Star News:
One juror in Richards’ case wrote to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elaine Lu to express his “reluctance” after voting to convict her. While Richards’ crime matched the law’s description, the unidentified juror said the D.A.’s decision to charge Richards with a felony was “the true injustice” and a “political misstep.”
During the trial, Richards’ attorney Nana Gyamfi said she could not describe the law as lynching because of the change, despite the history of the law.
“Just changing the name makes it so we can’t call it what it is at trial,” Gyamfi said. “It would have been a lot different if people on the jury understood what they were looking at was ‘attempted lynching,’ instead of ‘attempted taking someone from the custody of police.’ ”
According to Democracy Now!, Richards is “due back in court next month for pretrial hearings in two other cases.”
During Wednesday’s edition of NewsOne Now, Richards spoke with Roland Martin about her conviction and what’s next in her ongoing legal battle.
She told Martin there are two other misdemeanors that have to be addressed and her plan is to appeal the felony lynching charge.
Watch Roland Martin and Jasmine Richards discuss lynching conviction in the video clip above.
SOURCE: Pasadena Star News, Democracy Now! | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty, Twitter | VIDEO CREDIT: NewsOne Now
SEE ALSO:
Black Lives Matter Activist Charged & Convicted Of “Lynching”
WATCH: “Our People Are Still In Jail” Activist Slams Bill Clinton For 1994 Crime Bill
Black Lives Matter Activist Convicted Of Felony Lynching Is Free was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
