After years of delays, the criminal cases of the far-right activists involved in a May 2019 brawl outside the former Northeast Portland pub Cider Riot have all come to a close. The incident was led by individuals associated with Patriot Prayer, a Vancouver, Washington extremist group known for coming to Portland to start fights with antifascist activists. After sparring with a group of antifascists outside Cider Riot, six of the Patriot Prayer-affiliated men involved were arrested on charges ranging from assault to riot. Three of those accepted a plea deal with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office, admitting their guilt for their crimes. Two, including leader of Patriot Prayer Joey Gibson, had their charges acquitted by a judge. And a jury found the remaining activist, a man named Mackenzie Lewis, guilty on riot charges. Lewis faces three days in jail for his conviction. The largest sentence of the group went to Ian Kramer, who struck a woman with a baton so forcefully during the May brawl that she was knocked unconscious and sustained a vertebrae fracture. The result of a plea deal put him behind bars for 20 months. For a community eager to finally hold Patriot Prayer responsible for the years of torment the group has brought to Portland, the results of the criminal cases came as a disappointment. For those following radical right-wing extremist groups, it came as a warning. To understand the impact that the case outcomes may have on the future of right-wing extremism in Portland, we spoke with Stephen Piggott, an analyst with the Western States Center, a nonprofit focused on confronting and reducing extremism in the west.
via portlandmercury: Q & A: An Expert on Right-Wing Extremism on the Outcome of Patriot Prayer Criminal Cases “When punishment doesn’t happen it sends a green light to these groups that it’s permissible.”