BofA Has Man Prosecuted For Writing Anti-Bank Messages On Public Sidewalk And Gets Judge To Bar 1st Amendment Arguments

Jeff Olson from San Diego, California will face jail time for writing anti-big bank messages in water-soluble chalk on public sidewalks outside BofA branches last year.

To make matters worse the presiding judge in the case, Howard M. Shore ruled to prohibit Olson’s attorney from “mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial.”

Olson is being charged with 13 counts of vandalism which could force him to pay a $13,000 fine and put him behind bars for 13 years.

The San Diego Reader reports that Olson and his partner had been active in the campaign to encourage people to move their money from BofA and during one protest, Darell Freeman, vice president of Bank of America’s Global Corporate Security began accusing them of running a business with the opposition. Witnesses even say Freeman even threatened to slander Olson at his credit union. According to witness, David Batterson,

Olson later expanded his displeasure with Bank of America with chalk drawings on sidewalks outside various Bank of America branches with Bank of America security cameras apparently recording his actions. He stopped his artistic protest last year after he received a call from San Diego’s Gang Unit.

The Reader reports Freeman, like Javert in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, pursued Olson and pressured city attorneys to bring charges against Olson until they announced that they would do so this past April.

The case went in front of Judge Howard M. Shore earlier this week and Shore ruled The First Amendment has no place in Superior Court Judge when it comes to vandalism with water-soluble chalk. Shore granted Hazard’s motion to prohibit Olson’s attorney Tom Tosdal from mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial. He wants a trial to focus on whether or not Olson is guilty of vandalism not what his motivations behind the alleged vandalism were.

Yesterday the San Diego City Attorney’s Office issued the following statement to the Huffington Post:

After reading this, I don’t exactly know what to say. So I’m going to let Ron Burgandy do it for me: