US

BLM Protester Charged With Intimidating Kim Potter Trial Judge Denied Bail, Deemed Flight Risk

BLM protester allegedly intimidated a judge [Twitter Oak Tree Upheaval]

[Twitter Screenshot Oak Tree Upheaval]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

A Black Lives Matter protester accused of threatening the judge overseeing the trial over Daunte Right’s fatal shooting was ordered to be held without bail Monday after he was deemed a flight risk, according to reports.

Thirty-two year-old Cortez Rice appeared before the court virtually as his lawyers argued he deserved bail after he had been denied bond earlier in the month after he allegedly violated his probation for the third time, according to Fox News.

Rice allegedly live streamed himself inside a Minneapolis condominium on Nov. 6 where he thought Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu, who is overseeing the case, resided, according to the report. Chu barred cameras from the courtroom, with Rice reportedly making threatening statements toward Chu and demanding she reverse her decision.

Days later, Chu switched her decision, claiming it had nothing to do with Rice, according to Fox News. (RELATED: BLM Rioters Assault CNN Staffer, Chase His Team Out Of Brooklyn Center. The TV Network Hasn’t Even Mentioned It)

“The Court’s decision most emphatically is not a reflexive response to recent protests at the presiding judge’s home,” Chu reportedly wrote.

Judge Bill Koch then set a $20,000 bail for felony harassment following the incident, which was lower than prosecutors’ request, according to Fox News.

Civil rights attorney Jordan Kushner reportedly told Judge Salvador Rosas that Rice “went into the building, which I guess is also unnerving, but there isn’t any crime associated with that. What he did, while it might be offensive, and maybe there would be some kind of misdemeanor that would fit with this, although I don’t know of any, it just doesn’t rise to the level of harassment that is charged against Mr. Rice.”

Kushner suggested Rice be granted bail and allowed to wear a GPS monitor that would keep him within feet of his home, according to Fox News.

The prosecution argued Rice allegedly violated his probation by leaving the state without permission. Kushner argued Rice had to attend a last-minute memorial in Kentucky and was unable to reach his probation officer before he was arrested in Wisconsin, according to Fox News.

Rosas said Rice still poses a flight risk, according to the report.

“I do believe that there’s a flight risk here. This is the third violation on a case where he received a very, very generous departure from the guidelines on a gun case, which used to be unheard of, and he managed to get at least two violations on that very generous sentence, and then he picked up another criminal offense,” Rosas reportedly said. “The gun case alone would be sufficient for me to conclude that he would be a public safety risk.”

Rice also claimed in a Nov. 6 live-stream that jurors in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial were being filmed.

“In Kenosha, I ain’t even gonna name the people that I know that’s up in there,” Rice said. “But there’s cameras in there. There’s definitely cameras up in there and there’s definitely people taking pictures of the juries and everything like that. We know what’s going on.”