Upscale #EastBay suburban hamlet must pay $120,000 to settle case brought by a persistent projectionist , "#solarpunk novelist" and Mastodon user @AEMarling arrested in 2021 for being an alleged "public nuisance" after beaming portable political imagery onto #SanRamon #CityHall.
Marling is perhaps best known for his caustic commentary targeting petty #Twitler #CEO #MelonHusk with viral projection takes including “Space Karen,” “Lawless Oligarch” "Mediocre Manchild" and other critiques on the #American oligarch's corporate #SocialMedia HQ outpost along #MarketSt in #SanFrancisco.
Originally after being cited, Marling's attorney assumed the small suburban city would return his projection equipment and drop charges, but angry officials retained "outside counsel and private attorney to act as prosecutor, and they prosecuted this to the bitter end” which prompted the case to continue for years as Marling counter sued the bedroom community in #federalcourt for alleged violations of his #FirstAmendment and #FourthAmendment rights, as well as false arrest, among other legal claims that personally named city officials and #police personnel who pursued the charges. Named in Marling's suit were #CityAttorney Martin Lysons, city manager Joe Gorton, ex top cop Craig Stevens, current #PoliceChief Denton Carlson, Sgt. Michael Pistello, Officer Rick Gonzalez, pvt attorney Lance Bayer and city employee Karen McHenry-Smith. The first alleged criminal conspiratorial act by the local govt occured when petty police lied in their report about the spot where Marling even had the projector, claiming it was propped up against a traffic light on a sidewalk rather than placed in a landscaping bed.
From there, and even after an acquittal in an actual local court for the bogus citation, Marling filed a complaint alleging numerous civil violations, including of the First, Fourth and 14th amendments and the #CivilRights Act, as well as false imprisonment.
Marling said he hopes the legal #settlement discourages crackdowns on #activism in the future.
“For the police to try to detain in this fashion is illegal — I wasn’t violating any laws,” Marling said. “I guess you could say it was a slap on the wrist to try to encourage cities to not do this.” We only got to this point where the city finally "settled" and agreed to pay #legal costs and admit no #wrongdoing after years of #litigation.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/05/13/viral-bay-area-projection-activist-reaches-120000-settlement-in-civil-rights-lawsuit-against-bay-area-city/ #CopWatch #FreeSpeech
