Not Above The Law: Rev. William Barber Convicted of Trespassing at General Assembly

RALEIGH – Reverend William Barber, former leader of the ‘Moral Monday’ protests of recent years and a constant engine of agitation to advance the radical agenda of the progressive Left, was convicted Thursday of trespassing on N.C. General Assembly grounds during a protest in 2017.

From WFAE Charlotte:

“Barber was charged for not leaving the General Assembly when told to do so, and he demanded a jury trial.

In an email, Barber said he would appeal the verdict.

Barber testified that the Constitution gives him the right to protest in the building. He said he organized a sit-in at the legislative building because Republican leaders wouldn’t meet with him. […]”

Imagine that. After years of Barber organizing disorderly and obnoxious protests aimed at Republicans at the state legislature, Republican lawmakers did not want to meet with him and give him the legitimacy of someone capable of reasoned discourse.

Barber demanded a jury trial, probably thinking his appeal to emotional, identity politics would win him favor. The law, though, is pretty cut and dry. He thinks the constitution supports his actions, but he (and the horde he leads) is so myopic  as to be oblivious to the reality that their protests nearly always reached a point of interrupting the people’s business in the legislature and denied other observers their right to engage in it.

Barber was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation and a day in jail, the latter of which was suspended by the judge in the case. He promised to appeal the conviction.