Ohio A.G. Dave Yost Charges Protesters Under Ancient KKK Anti-Masking Law, Grand Jury Rejects Charge
Chris Menahan
Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost charged two pro-Palestine protesters under an ancient KKK anti-masking law in a bid to eliminate their First Amendment rights but a grand jury rejected the obscure felony charge in court on Monday.
A Xavier University student and a recent graduate arrested in connection with a campus protest were charged with felonies under a law that officials say had never been used in Hamilton County before.
The pair appeared in court Monday on charges they committed a crime while wearing disguises. Witnesses said they were wearing medical face masks. They are also charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor.
By Monday afternoon, the charges against Sophia Dempsey and Julia Lankisch, both 22, had been ignored by a grand jury. In Ohio, grand juries are held in secret, so details about why the charges were so quickly brought before the jurors and why they were ignored is not known.
The pair still face the misdemeanor trespassing charges.
Disguises law dates to 1800s but no record of use in Hamilton County
The protesters were initially charged under an 1800s era law used to target the Ku Klux Klan and other similar violent, vigilante groups. Attorney General Dave Yost pointed out the law in a letter to Ohio university presidents in response to the recent pro-Palestinian protests. It carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.
Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Matthew Broo said staff at his office could find no records or recall anyone else ever being charged under this law in this county.
Israel-First Republicans and Democrats in the wake of October 7 have gone all in on passing “hate speech” laws to outlaw criticizing Jews and Israel — First Amendment be damned.
this is the letter our bitch ass attorney general sent to universities regarding pro Palestine protests, threatening us with 6-18 months in prison, up to $5k in fines, and 5 years community control FOR WEARING A MASK TO PROTEST.
this isn’t a slippery slope, it’s the wayside. pic.twitter.com/YPYBbQMxOD
— maskbloc614 (@maskbloc614) May 10, 2024
🇺🇸 OHIO: AG Dave Yost is warning state university presidents that students wearing masks during pro-Palestinian protests could be charged with fourth-degree felonies due to a 1953 Ohio law aimed at the KKK. pic.twitter.com/yz4yIpgUje
— Bruce Snyder (@realBruceSnyder) May 13, 2024
They banned TikTok on behalf of Israel, demanded the mass arrest of pro-Palestine protesters and called for the mass deportation of foreign students for protesting Israel.
They’ve also demanded that Americans protesting Israel’s brutal war on Gaza be put on the No Fly List and the groups organizing the protests be investigated by the IRS.
Whereas most of our leaders took a knee during the Black Lives Matter riots, now they’re nearly uniformly united in demanding the protests against Israel’s war on Gaza be crushed with an iron fist and the First Amendment be repealed in service of a foreign power.
