Judge rules there’s no probable cause to charge Seattle freeway-blocking Gaza protesters with criminal trespass

A liberal activist judge in Washington who issued a ruling this week in a case involving anti-Israel activists who blocked a major freeway in downtown Seattle previously liked a "Free Palestine" and other pro-Hamas social media posts shortly after the deadly Oct 7 attacks.

On Wednesday, six of the defendants charged with blockading the I-5 freeway in downtown Seattle to support Hamas appeared in court for a hearing. The defendants include 2 Seattle public school teachers and an Antifa militant with ties to MS-13.

Five of the defendants were charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct by the King County Prosecutor's Office. One was only charged with just disorderly conduct.

Judge Andrea Jarmon ruled that there was no probable cause for the criminal trespass charges against three defendants after defense attorneys argued that prosecutors used social media posts for the investigation and "lumped everyone together," while identifying the defendants.

One of the defendants included in the ruling is Seattle Public School teacher James “Whitney” Parker who not only posted a video of him walking on the freeway to social media but also admitted it during public comment at a Seattle Public School Board meeting.

The other was Christina Devitt who is an Antifa militant who was involved in the 2020 BLM riots and has ties to the violent MS-13 gang.

Days after the Oct 7 attacks, the worst pogrom since the Holocaust, Deputy Executive Director of the Washington State Bar Dua Abudiab appropriated the writings of renowned Holocaust author and survivor Elie Wiesel criticizing people for not standing up to the Nazis and used the writings to advocated for Hamas and concluded with “Free Palestine.”

Jarmon “loved” the Facebook post then took the Elie Weisel quote and posted it to her own Facebook page.

The Commission on Judicial Conduct has strict rules specifically to avoid the appearance of any judge having a bias. Many pointed out that Jews, Israelis, Israeli Arabs, and Israeli Christians would not be able to expect impartial rulings from Jamon.

Sources told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI that complaints have already been filed against Jarmon.

Jarmon did rule in that there was probable cause to keep the disorderly conduct charges against the defendants.

According to a spokesman for the King County Prosecutor told Hoffman, “The judge didn’t find probable cause on some of the charges — meaning that they could not impose conditions of the charges where probable cause was not found, but could on the other charges where probable cause was found. All of the charges still stand.”
 
At the hearing, all six defendants pleaded not guilty and have trial dates set for June.