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SDNY Okoumou Got 5 Years
Probation Now Wants Out As
Mother But US Opposes
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 7 – Statue of Liberty
climber Patricia Okoumou was
sentenced to five years
probation and 200 hours of
community service on March 19,
2019 in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York. Judge
Gabriel Gorenstein's decision,
read to intermittent boos and
hisses from the gallery,
disputed Okoumou's attorney
Ronald Kuby's appeal to
American values. One judge
might find abortion abhorent,
Judge Gorenstein, while
another might favor the right
to it. Should each impose
sentence based on their own
belief?
Kuby said it will
be a long road; Gorenstein
said he hopes not. He added
that if things so swimmingly
he would entertain a motion to
end the probation. Could one
do a swimming protest without
being accused of putting
police at risk? Watch this
site. And this Periscope video.
Now on
April 7, 2020, the US has
opposed Okoumou's motion to
end her probation, calling it
premature: "the defendant's
recently becoming a mother
also does not yet justify
early termination." Inner City
Press will continue to cover
this. The case is US v.
Okoumou, 18-cr-469
(Gorenstein).
Okoumou climbed
the Statue of Liberty on the
4th of July to protest U.S.
family separation immigration
policies, the government asked
that she jailed for at least
30 days and given three years
of probation.
For this they
cited, as the defense did,
the the sentence of
Alberto De Jesus Mercado,
a/k/a “Tito Kayak,” with the
government emphasizing that
there, the district court
stated explicitly that the
sentence imposed of time
served was based on the fact
that De Jesus had already been
sentenced to one year’s
imprisonment in the District
of Puerto Rico as a result of
his climbing on the Statue of
Liberty while on federal
probation. See United States
v. De Jesus Mercado, No. 01
Cr. 132 (S.D.N.Y.) (MHD), Dkt.
20 at 17:3-7 (“[Y]ou are now
serving a one-year prison term
for violation of probation
that followed . . . for
substantially the reason that
you were convicted here, for
trespass on the Statute of
Liberty.”), 18:15-24 (“In this
case, . . . bearing in mind
all of the circumstances, the
length of the sentence that
was imposed by the District
Court in Puerto Rico, in my
view, satisfies substantially
all of the interests to be
served by any incarceration in
this case.”).
That case
involved the U.S. bombing of
Vieques: "Prior to climbing
the Statue of Liberty, De
Jesus was convicted in the
District of Puerto Rico on two
counts of trespass and one
count of simple assault for
trespassing onto a military
installation on the island of
Vieques, Puerto Rico. The
District Court in Puerto Rico
initially sentenced him to
time served (approximately 34
days) and one year of
probation. De Jesus then
violated his probation by
traveling to New York and
climbing the crown of the
Statue of Liberty, and by
returning to Vieques at least
twice in contravention of an
express term of his probation.
The District Court in Puerto
Rico then sentenced him to one
year’s imprisonment for the
probation violations. See
United States v. De Jesus, 277
F.3d 609, 611 (1st Cir.
2002)." So by Inner City Press
last week, and below, the
traditions if not precedents
here involve not only the
Catholic Worker's Dorothy Day
- whose portrait is up in City
Hall these days - but also
Vieques.
Back on March 1
SDNY Judge Gorenstein did not
revoke bail but imposed house
arrest. He
jibed
that it appeared Ms. Okoumou
could only support herself by
donations garnered by
climbing. Afterward Inner City
Press asked her lawyer Ron
Kuby about this argument. He
said the judge has it
precisely wrong, or in
reverse: she raised money
because she is an activist,
she is not an actively in
order to make money. Ms.
Okoumou raised her fist, and
headed to Staten Island.
Photos here.
***
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