Mike Strickland will be in Multnomah County court today as the judge hears motions for his case.
A perfunctory and necessary rite, both sides will get an idea of where the other side is going strategically, if they didn’t already know from discovery in the felony gun use case.
Strickland was arrested and charged with 21 counts of menacing and unlawful use of a firearm for drawing his hand gun in self defense during the July 7, 2016 Black Lives Matter/Don’t Shoot Portland protest.
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s office clearly has decided to use Strickland’s case as a precedent to draw the line at when legal concealed handgun permit holders may draw a weapon in Multnomah County. A lot rides on this case, which is why prosecutors haven’t dropped it, even though Strickland’s case of self defense is stronger on the merits.
Through research and interviews, including trying to talk to the deputy district attorney involved in the case, and talking to eyewitnesses and anarchists, the consensus is, this case is politically motivated.
In fact, it’s an outcome in search of a case.
Which brings us to the number one “victim” in the case.
It was last July 7th. Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Portland for a Black Lives Matter/Don’t Shoot PDX rally, march and protest. Those gathered at Pioneer Courthouse Square received a pep talk from self described black panther members on doing violence (which I’ve elaborated on before and have received more information on which I’ll outline in a future post) and proceeded to march toward the rally spot.
As protesters listened to speeches on the steps of a nearby building, a smaller group of anarchists saw Strickland recording the event. Strickland covers these events as a journalist for his own social media outlets, one of which is entitled, “Laughing at Liberals” and for a popular news website.
The men made a decision to “go get” Strickland.
The reason why will be dealt with in a future post.
During the protest, a contingent of anarchists snaked around the crowd and rushed Strickland from at least two sides. The moment is captured on video which I’ve chronicled in my previous posts. And since those posts were published, more video evidence has been obtained.
The first victim mentioned in the complaint against Strickland describes “male wearing a blue hooded top, dark pants and a black messenger bag” who was “in fear of imminent serious injury…”
The “victim” is this man:
The man whom the DA claimed to be “in fear of imminent serious injury…” was one of the anarchists encircling Strickland. He’s the heavy-set man coming at Strickland on his left flank. He stopped only because Strickland drew his weapon.
Why would Strickland ‘go to guns’ at this point? Because he’d already been roughed up by some of the same people in the crowd.
Here’s a photo of this “victim” from a previous protest.
Police officers who have seen this tape have previously stated on this website that Strickland broke no laws. At the point they saw this full video, they didn’t know that the anarchists had previously roughed up and threatened Strickland. Knowing that, it seems that Strickland had an even greater reason to pull his gun in self defense.
The DA terms this man a “victim” when he certainly appears to have helped provoke the act of self defense. Furthermore, this “victim” possesses a long and ignominious rap sheet which includes a major federal bomb threat case and other very, ah, interesting crimes. Indeed, the DA is using a very shady character to buttress their rickety case against Mike Strickland.
I look forward to the cross examination of this man by the defense.
My next post will outline who he is at length and his rap sheet.
See some of my previous posts here:
Strickland Indicted on Gun Charges; Ham Sandwich Next In Line
Strickland Self Defense: Will #PDX Media Change False Narrative on Gun Case?
Watch This Guy Advance on Mike Strickland Right Before He Pulled Gun At BLM Protest
