January 9, 2014 Jose Gutierrez will be sentenced tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. by Judge William Shubb at the federal courthouse in downtown Oakland (1031 Clay St.). His wife Sarah Shrader urges pot partisans to “Please come show the court that the community is against more precious resources being wasted on a menial case.”
Gutierrez was protesting the federal takedown of Oaksterdam University and allied businesses on April 2, 2012, when he was assaulted by officers and charged with assaulting an officer. Michael Short of the San Francisco Chronicle took a picture worth a thousand words that shows the mighty Gutierrez —although being held down and choked by one federal agent— bashing his head against another agent’s boot. Read O’Shaughnessy’s coverage here.
Gutierrez, who lives in Sebastopol with his wife and two school-age children, is a popular and respected activist. He faces a maximum of eight years of federal time. His probation officer has recommended six months of incarceration, and six months in a halfway house. We recommend time served —the sentence Judge Charles Breyer meted out to Ed Rosenthal. Be there or be in DARE. —O’S News Service
