Spokane ICE protester pleads guilty

One of the nine protesters charged with conspiring to impede or injure federal agents during a mass immigration protest in Spokane last summer pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

Mikki P. Hatfield was the first of the protesters to plead guilty, but more are expected to take similar plea deals soon.

Former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart, Collin Muncey and Bobbi Silva are set for change of plea hearings early next week. The remaining five – Justice Forral, Erin Lang, Thalia Ramirez, Bajun Mavalwalla II and Jac Archer – are currently scheduled for trial in May.

A plea agreement gives Hatfield the opportunity in 18 months to withdraw the felony plea and instead plead guilty to a less serious misdemeanor charge of depredation of U.S. property if Hatfield abides by release conditions until June 2027.

Under the agreement, Hatfield would not be jailed, fined or serve probation. Nick Vieth, Hatfield’s attorney, said Hatfield would be subject to pay a portion of about $10,900 in restitution, which would be spread among the defendants.

Hatfield could be imprisoned if she violates her supervised release conditions. The maximum penalty for the felony charge is six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“Mikki’s looking forward to moving on,” Vieth said.

He said he expects most of the rest of the defendants to have a “similar approach” to resolve their cases.

The nine defendants were indicted in July for their alleged role in a demonstration against U.S. Immigration and Customs for detaining two legal asylum seekers at a routine immigration check-in. Stuckart, Forral, Lang and Ramirez were also cited in Spokane County District Court on suspicion of failing to disperse, but those charges were dismissed.

Federal prosecutors claim the nine defendants conspired to use force or threats against federal officers on June 11 to prevent them from transporting the two asylum seekers to a detainment center in Tacoma, and that two of them –Hatfield and Silva – assaulted a federal officer amid the chaos in downtown Spokane.

Hatfield and Silva were the only defendants not released from custody at their first court appearances in July because they are the only two accused of assaulting an officer. Instead, they were released a few days later.

Stuckart sparked the protest that swelled to hundreds of people that day by posting a call to action on Facebook after ICE agents detained the two men who had appeared at ICE offices for a check-in.

Archer posted on social media a call for others to come and join, noting the intent was to “risk arrest to block the exits to ICE,” according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges Stuckart blocked a transport bus carrying the two immigrants. Archer, Stuckart and others blocked the pathway and door to the transport bus despite orders to disperse, the indictment says.

Others blocked the bus, released air from the tires and painted the windshield of the bus, making it unsafe to drive, according to the indictment.

Silva is accused of striking a federal officer from behind as the officer tried to clear the pathway for transport vehicles to leave ICE’s local Spokane operations building at 411 W. Cataldo Ave.

Plea agreement documents indicate Hatfield and others picked up smoke canisters, which police deployed to control the hundreds of people in the crowd who had blocked the facility and roads, and threw them back at Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Spokane police officers. Prosecutors will move to dismiss the federal assault charge when Hatfield is sentenced.

Hatfield and others placed trash cans, sand/cement bags, benches, signs and other objects in front of the ingresses and egresses to block the exit, prosecutors say in the indictment.

Stuckart, Hatfield, Silva and others surrounded and blocked a transport van that Spokane police officers had placed patrol cars in front of and behind, according to the indictment. Ramirez is accused of using a boxcutter to slash the tires of the van.