Community Packs Court in Support of ‘Frederick Four’ in Maryland

Report back on community mobilization in support of the ‘Frederick Four,’ who were violently arrested on May Day. For more information, go here.

After two months of fundraising and general outreach by the Frederick After Party Care team, the time had come for the Frederick Four to make their first court appearance. The court hearing was set for July 3rd at 8:30am and supporters began to gather out front of Frederick Social around 7:30. Supporters wore black and passed around red flowers on hair clips and pins to add to their outfits. By 7:50, around fifty people slowly entered the Frederick courthouse. Once everyone was through security, they started to ascend to the building’s third floor.

When everyone was finally gathered outside of the courtroom and the last latecomers arrived, the crowd numbered about 65 people strong. It was hard to miss the amount of Frederick Police that also inhabited the semi-crowded space as they brushed by supporters. Someone told me they overheard a conversation between two cops mumbling, “This is our space…,” seemingly disapproving of the mass show of support.

The crowd waited now past 8:30, as people and police shuffled in and out of the courtroom. I had to turn my phone off before entering, but if I had to guess, everyone was allowed to enter at around 9am. Some were seated in the very limited bench seats, while the rest lined the perimeter of the room. The presiding Judge was Judge Dino E. Flores, who didn’t seem moved by the packing, from what I could tell.

Those who were visibly affected by the group were the Frederick police, who stood at the sides and the entrance of the room, as if anticipating some sort of outburst or protest. This, however, never happened, as the purpose of packing the court is to show support for the Frederick Four. That support was overwhelmingly clear. When court finally started, each defendant was called up with their lawyer, and each time the prosecutor just copied and pasted her words, which were that “13.8 gigabytes of drone footage” was sent to the defendants that morning and it was yet to be reviewed.

After that back-and-forth, the judge would postpone each case until the defense had a chance to view this evidence. Everyone is eagerly awaiting a new court date now. It’s important to note that one of the Frederick Four had to reschedule their court date due to their lawyer being out of the country and that new date is August 5th at Frederick courthouse at 8am.

Despite only being in the court room for about 10 minutes, the large community response seemed effective and was a great way to show support. When court let out everyone gathered at Mullinix Park for a community cook out which was attended by supporters and park-goers. The Frederick After Party Care team has an update on their fundraising site thanking everyone and emphasizing that this is just the beginning and how invaluable the community support continues to be.

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash