Malheureusement, once again we find ourselves with nearly no newsy new news to report regarding the increasingly strange and sinister case the State of Washington has brought against friend (and fellow WIPworker), Scott Yoos!
You may recall that nearly two-years ago (on the night of June the 1st, 2011), the accused (Yoos) was brutally-arrested by a whole posse of four officers from the Olympia Police Department.
His “crime”? Scott had been seen making a brief stop at a (wide-open) City dumpster, during his lengthy bike-ride home from downtown Olympia.
At this receptacle, he disposed of a small bag, (containing damp napkins), and closed the dumpster’s lid, (to guard against roving raccoons). Yoos was promptly arrested as he rode from the open parking lot, then was tackled to the pavement and handcuffed. Later, once he was at the Jail, Scott was charged with two misdemeanors: “Obstructing Justice” and “Criminal Trespass”. (Perhaps unwisely), he had attempted to communicate with the policemen via the (civil) use of Sign language, + pen/pad. (Yoos is mute, and has been unable to speak for nearly 3 decades, due to an ill-fated hitch-hiking misadventure in 1984.)
The OPD officers labelled his strange gesturing as “possibly assaultive” behavior, obviously worthy of an ugly, violent, and undeserved arrest. A month later (as it became increasingly clear that Scott was not going to agree to plea “Guilty” to these bogus “crimes”), the elder Sergeant Paul Johnson submitted his police report, now claiming Yoos had kicked him during the fray. This brought the whole mess into the even uglier realm of a “Felony” charge. (The City, sagely, had fully dismissed this hyper-inflated case in early August 2011, But—alas—a week later, it was resurrected from its grave, and with a felony “Assault” claim against Yoos. It was trumped-up to the Superior Court and moved to the Thurston County Courthouse.)
During the past two years, Scott has made more than twenty different Court-appearances. At the dogged insistence of its Prosecuting Attorneys Jon Tunheim and J. Andrew Toynbee, Thurston County’s taxpayers have paid tens of thousands of dollars towards the effort to “criminalize” Scott Yoos. (Makes one wonder about our policing priorities, -eh?)
The Court is currently in-the-midst of hearing a “Motion to Dismiss,” presented by Scott’s Attorney, Larry Hildes of Bellingham. This Hearing was scheduled to re-convene in mid-April, but, at-the-last-minute, the Persecuting Attorney informed us that one of the arresting police officers was unable to conveniently attend, so, it has (again) been postponed until a (yet-to-be-decided) mystery date(!)
…If the injustice of this weird-o-rama case is of any interest, then please take an occasional glance at our nifty blog site: http://www.scottysupport.blogspot.com or follow Scott on Facebook—Scott Yoos Ldf—to see the latest updates regarding possible hearings during May.
(We’d love to pack the courtroom!)
–Scott Yoos Support Committee
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