Buckle up, folks, because things are about to get wild, and infuriating. We will go as far as to say that if we presided in the case, we would have declared a mistrial.
Previously, Andy Ngo had filed a civil suit entitled Ngo v. Rose City AntiFA claiming that this branch of AntiFA and several members of that organization had attacked Ngo in order to silence him. (We spell it AntiFA because they are Anti-First-Amendment—regardless of what they claim to be.) While we can’t speak to the ultimate merits of this case, we do know that AntiFA members have attacked Ngo in the past in a plain effort to silence him by violence and we find Ngo to be a credible journalist in general. We just haven’t done the research necessary to allow us to say whether or not he is correct in this particular case, including the specific people who went to trial in this case.
For all the claims that there is some kind of party switch, this is actually classic Democrat Party tactics. Previously, they used the Ku Klux Klan to silence people that disagreed with them and now they use the Brownshirts of AntiFA. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
In any case, AntiFA apparently won this round, and seems to have done so in a very KKK way:
BREAKING: Portland jury finds Antifa militants not liable in Andy Ngo attack, Antifa attorney declares ‘I AM ANTIFA’https://t.co/1hXacsNRV6
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) August 8, 2023
The linked-to article announced that a verdict was reached, and Ngo lost. And while it is possible that the jury really, truly and fairly found that Ngo failed to prove his case, there is also a real chance that AntiFA actually won by one of two classic techniques: Jury nullification or jury intimidation.
On the topic of intimidation, Greg Price shares this:
.@MrAndyNgo was viciously attacked on camera, yet he sued his attackers and lost.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 9, 2023
The judge said that antifa were trying to dox jurors, the lawyer for the other side declared “I am Antifa” and told the jurors she’d remember their faces.
Fully crazy.
pic.twitter.com/Rp2ONFGoQJ
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So, the jury was afraid, and the lawyer said she’d remember their faces? If we presided, that would be grounds for a mistrial. But it gets even worse:
During closing statements, defense lawyer Michelle Burrows told the jurors that not only does she self-identify as both a progressive and an ‘anti-fascist,’ she strongly declared, ‘I am Antifa’ and insisted upon making herself an ‘I am Antifa’ t-shirt, which she said she would wear after the trial. Despite Antifa's significant recorded history of violence, she told the jury that Antifa's unfavorable reputation is untrue and depicted the organized militant group as activists fighting for social justice and civil rights.
In defense of Antifa, Burrows said, ‘Resistance in this country has never been peaceful.’…
After announcing her retirement and that this would be her last trial, Burrows told the jurors that she ‘will remember each one of their faces.’
So, let’s review. The lawyer tells the jury that is already scared of being doxxed (and retaliated against) that she is resigning as a lawyer. That means that she would no longer would fear the ordinary regulation of her profession. She declares that she is a member of this terrorist organization. And then she tells the jurors she would remember their faces. We can’t guess what she meant to imply when she said those things, but if we sat in the jury box, we would take that as a threat. And if we sat on the bench, that would be grounds for mistrial.
That is one classic KKK tactic: Jury intimidation. But we also might be looking at another: Jury nullification.
And we will take a moment to clarify what we mean by that, because there are two types of jury nullification. The first is simply a recognition that the jury can decide what the law is. The classic example of that pre-dates the Republic: The Zenger Trial. In that case, a man was accused of seditious libel and the jury was urged to find him not guilty on the following grounds. Libel required at least the defense of truth, and he had not been allowed to put on truth as a defense. Therefore, because he was not allowed to put on a defense, the jury should automatically find him not guilty. And that argument worked. That is a relatively respectable kind of jury nullification although it is controversial and, obviously, it can be abused.
By comparison, there is another kind of jury nullification where the jury just finds the person not guilty (or you get a hung jury) for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with the law. Maybe they just like the defendant (or his or her cause), or they hate the victim (or his or her cause).
And the hatred of the victim can be based on terrible reasons, such as the race or religion of a party involved. For instance, the KKK and fellow travelers often used violence to silence anyone calling for greater equal opportunity by race. On the rare occasion that someone would actually be tried for such violence, often jury nullification would thwart justice. The early hung jury in the case of Medgar Evers is often cited as an example that kind of jury nullification.
(Eventually, Evers’ assassin was convicted, but only several decades after the fact.)
It sure looks like the AntiFA lawyer also sought the second kind of jury nullification. From the article:
The defense attorney went on to say that journalist Andy Ngo has dirty hands. She indicated that Ngo is a ‘doxxer’ as well because he uploads publicly available mugshots of Antifa-affiliated individuals that have committed crimes on his Twitter account, which has over one million followers.
In addition, the defense lawyer said that since the US has an ‘unregulated internet,’ Ngo needs to ‘take responsibility’ for the words he says on the internet, and added that his ‘conduct has not been pristine.’ She also attacked Ngo's credibility as a journalist despite providing the jury with no evidence of the allegations that would have discredited him, other than saying that he's a ‘liar’ that provides ‘half-truths.’
According to the article, the defense had not provided any proof of any dishonesty on the part of Ngo, and we are not independently aware of any proof of dishonesty. But that’s beside the point. Even if Ngo was a defamation machine, none of that justifies the violence inflicted upon him. Peaceful word never justifies violence.
(We say ‘peaceful words’ to exclude statements such as threats that can themselves breach the peace. Under the right circumstances, threats can justify violence. For instance, Greedo was threatening Han Solo and was trying to kidnap him, which is why Han not only shot first, but in most American jurisdictions he would have had a legal right to do so.)
So, the defense was seemingly arguing for that uglier kind of jury nullification and we wonder, again, why the judge allowed that to go on. If we were presiding, we wouldn’t have.
That all being said, this wasn’t a complete loss:
When we started @Liberty_Ctr to stand up for the first amendment and other civil rights of clients who would otherwise have gone unrepresented, @MrAndyNgo's case was the first one we took. Antifa thugs had repeatedly used violence in Portland to intimidate and silence journalists… https://t.co/mVKxphDsCf
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) August 9, 2023
The full Tweet reads:
When we started @Liberty_Ctr to stand up for the first amendment and other civil rights of clients who would otherwise have gone unrepresented, @MrAndyNgo's case was the first one we took. Antifa thugs had repeatedly used violence in Portland to intimidate and silence journalists and ordinary citizens, including Andy. But Andy would NOT be silenced. Though we lost against these two defendants today, we won a settlement with one of the individual defendants, and took the defaults of three of them who failed to show up for court.
It is a tremendous honor to stand up for what's right in court throughout my law career. I'm very proud to have worked with Greg Michael and Dorothy Yamamoto, who started working on this case at my law firm and continued it when they formed their own practice. They took this case to trial and did a tremendous job. We all know as trial lawyers that in the end, the result is not in our hands, but in the hands of a judge and jury. They put on a great case, and Andy is an incredibly brave client who persevered for four years when many would have given up, changed their profession, or let the violent thugs win without challenge.
We are evaluating the next steps in this case, but hear this: I will not stand by idly while violent criminals seek to silence American journalists, and this is but one stop in a long journey. Thank you to all the people who contributed to Andy's legal fund, and who made this case possible up to this point.
Proud of you, @MrAndyNgo!
Thus, one party settled and others straight up defaulted. Still, the taint of possible jury nullification or intimidation hangs over the case.
We're proud of him, too!
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 9, 2023
So wish we had Harmeet Dhillon as RNC head.
— KayCeeJay🇺🇲🇨🇱 (@KevinJ9511) August 9, 2023
Thank you for bringing the case. The simple fact is if Portland law enforcement did its job, the perpetrators would have been identified and arrested. And there would not have been any mystery about their identity
— Daniel R. Street (@DanielRStreet1) August 9, 2023
Sounds like the antifa lawyer committed jury tampering and intimidation. Verdict should be set aside.
— Equality 7-2521 (@Equality7d2521) August 9, 2023
There is no justice in democrat run cities any longer. I can’t think of any good reasons for sane families to stay in them anymore.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 9, 2023
The defense lawyer threatened the jury and the judge didn't immediately declare a mistrial and tell the cops to arrest her on the spot. The legal system is just letting terrorists get away with terrorism because of their politics
— Benjamin Salaj 🇺🇸 (@BenjaminSalaj) August 9, 2023
What cowards! The judge and jury were cowards! How much more evidence do u need?
— Jeremy Maher (@justusecomsense) August 9, 2023
Busy labeling parents at school board meetings as domestic terrorists.
— Moozer (@MoozerTheBlob) August 9, 2023
Antifa officially controls Portland now https://t.co/18hi4MqLVC
— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) August 9, 2023
Unreal. https://t.co/quDgLFSIXj
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) August 9, 2023
Sadly, real.
And of course, one goon supported this behavior:
Lol, loser. Cry more. https://t.co/hOm32sjvnH
— Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) August 9, 2023
We’d tell Olbermann to do better, but we are pretty sure he’s incapable of it.
Pray for karma. https://t.co/9ccA8XpnZY
— Sharon Sloan🍊💛 (@Gnushound) August 9, 2023
The truth is most of the time throughout history justice didn't exist on this Earth. It’s unfortunate, but true. And it is nearly objectively true that bad things happen to good people. But we also believe that eventually justice comes, in the next world if not in this one.
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