Protest over criminal charges planned

Hundreds are expected Thursday morning at a protest in Oklahoma City over the filing of terrorism and other felony charges against those involved in demonstrations in May after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“This cannot stand!!” the host, Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City, said in social media posts that described t he defendants as political prisoners.

The protest is scheduled to begin at 9 at a downtown park a few blocks from the Oklahoma County Courthouse.

District Attorney David Prater, meanwhile, is not backing down on his hardline stance on what to charge protesters accused by police of violent acts. He filed two new rioting charges Tuesday, and more are in the works.

The prosecutor said Sunday he will not be intimidated by any individual or organization “from protecting those we serve by aggressively enforcing and prosecuting the law.”

“These criminals have subverted peaceful protests and impaired the open discussion regarding race in our country,” he said.

Charged Tuesday with rioting were Aaron James Snyder, 35, and Adion Mallett, 22, both of of Oklahoma City.

Snyder is accused of rioting with a large crowd of others May 30 in Oklahoma City and punching a police officer in the head multiple times. Officers were trying to detain him at the time because he reportedly had assaulted someone, according to a court affidavit.

Mallett is accused of rioting with a large crowd of others May 31 in Oklahoma City.

Police reported he hit an Oklahoma City police officer in the shoulder with a rock after the protest turned violent.

Police also reported finding a loaded pistol on him when he was arrested.

He later admitted throwing rocks at officers but said he did not intend to hit them, according to a court affidavit. He told police he brought a gun for his protection in case of looting.

Prater has been both praised and criticized since charging three protesters Friday with terrorism, four with rioting and one with assault and battery upon a police officer. The decision to file those felony charges attracted national attention.

The harshest criticism has been directed at the terrorism charges filed over the burning of an Oklahoma County sheriff's van and damage to an Oklahoma City bail bonds business.

The ACLU of Oklahoma on Saturday called those charges “nothing short of an abuse of power .” The executive director of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City on Monday said what bomber Timothy McVeigh did 25 years ago in Oklahoma City was terrorism and what happened last month was not.

Both organizations complained the district attorney has excessive ly charged protesters to stifle the exercise of free speech at future demonstrations.

“When you act like a terrorist, you will be treated like a terrorist,” Prater said Sunday.

Also Tuesday, the district attorney charged a new defendant, Trevor Evans Webb, 26, of Oklahoma City, with incitement to riot over a confrontation with an Oklahoma City police sergeant last week during the painting of a street mural.

Dropped as a defendant was Austin Ryan Mack, 24, of Edmond. Mack had been misidentified as one of five people involved in the June 23 incident, The Oklahoman was told. Mack told reporters Wednesday he was at the gym at the time.

One of the defendants already charged with incitement to riot was charged again Tuesday, this time over a confrontation with police June 24.

Mia Nichell Hogsett, 31, of Norman, is accused in the new charge — threatening an act of violence — of saying she was going to burn police headquarters to the ground.

Police reported she was streaming the confrontation live on social media.

She was with a group who wanted to file a report over the confrontation the previous day, police said.

At least one of those involved in the June 23 confrontation said the police sergeant tried to run them over with his patrol car.

Turning themselves in Wednesday were two of the defendants charged with incitement to riot. Tyreke J. Baker, 20, of Midwest City, and Sincere Deangelo Terry, 18, of Oklahoma City, walked up to the county jail as supporters chanted, “No Justice! No Peace!”

Baker played a song on a white cello in the jail parking lot before going in.