Peace activist David A. Goodner, 26, University of Iowa senior, UI Anti-war Committee, plead guilty in Linn County this morning [July 14, 2007] to counts of criminal trespassing and interference with official acts. Goodner was assessed the minimum fine on both counts: $65 for criminal trespassing and $250 for interference with official acts.
Goodner told the judge he would not pay the fines. "I consider my refusal to pay my fines an extension of my civil disobedience," Goodner said afterwards.
Goodner was arrested at the Cedar Rapids Federal Courthouse at 2:05pm on Friday July 6, during a public antiwar demonstration outside the federal building in Cedar Rapids where a district office of Senator Charles Grassley is located. After protesters were denied entrance to the building, Goodner attempted to access the building from a restricted side door.
Goodner read the following statement to supporters after the hearing:
"On Friday, July 6, I knowingly and deliberately broke the law on both counts of criminal trespassing and interference with official acts. I do not regret what I did and would do it again if I thought it would call attention to the war crimes and crimes against humanity our government is committing in the Middle East and around the world. Although I pleaded guilty to both counts, the issue at hand to me is the unlawful and Constitutionally-prohibited actions of the U.S. Federal Marshals who, on July 6, blocked the public entrance to the Cedar Rapids Federal Courthouse for over an hour and prevented a group of 75 citizens from entering a public building that is financed with our tax dollars.
"I would have never entered the restricted area if I wasn't denied my legal rights at the public entrance first.
"The interference with official acts charge is also without merit in my opinion because the "official act" of blocking 75 people from entering the federal building during normal business hours was itself an unlawful, illegal act. If we hadn't been denied our legal rights, crowd control would have been unnecessary."
The Gazette has more on Goodner's story.
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