Here's the story in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on March 31, 2018 after Mazin Mohamedali was arrested and charged with First Degree Robbery:
The Iowa City Police Department took a robbery suspect into custody after a brief foot pursuit Saturday morning.
At 11:37 a.m., police were dispatched to a Kum & Go at 955 Mormon Trek Boulevard, according to a media release. According to the victim, a male suspect displayed a knife and demanded cash before fleeing.
Multiple officers responded and located a suspect matching the description provided. After the brief pursuit, he was taken into custody.
The 17-year-old male was later charged with robbery in the first degree and transported to the Linn County Juvenile Detention Center. No injuries were reported during the incident, according to the release.
No mention of Mazin's name at the time, although he was about 6 weeks away from being 18 years old. The Gazette doesn't appear to have run a followup story when he plead guilty on September 26, 2018 to Second Degree Robbery, a Class C Felony.
Probation for a Class C felony, and robbing a store while brandishing a knife? Does that seem normal? That seems incredibly lenient. We will have to look into similar types of cases around Iowa.
Nor were there any mentions of Mazin Mohamedali's probation violations, at least three or four, in the past two years until he was jailed following the violence and vandalism associated with the Black Criminal Lies Matter riots in Iowa City.
Vanessa Miller wrote in the Gazette on June 8, 2020:
The 20-year-old leader of recent Black Lives Matter protests in Iowa City remained jailed after his arrest Sunday when a judge determined Monday she doesn't have leeway to order his release from Iowa Department of Corrections custody.
Mazin Mohamedali, a longtime Iowa City resident, has been under state supervision since his 2018 arrest on suspicion of robbing a Kum & Go while displaying a knife, according to police. He pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and was placed on three years' probation — although officers subsequently filed multiple complaints of mostly drug-related probation violations against him.
Authorities suspended his probation in December for those violations, and Mohamedali in March was ordered to spend the next year in a halfway house.
But Mohamedali, a leader of the Iowa Freedom Riders movement, was not in a halfway house when he was arrested Sunday on counts that included disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly tied to a protest Wednesday in Iowa City.
An Iowa City police complaint accused him of joining hundreds of others in blocking roadways. Police said protesters vandalized roads, signs and buildings.
Once he was taken to the Johnson County Jail, staff found "two multicolored, perforated paper squares consistent with LSD," court records show — another probation violation complaint.
At the same time, University of Iowa police said they were charging Mohamedali with second- and fifth-degree criminal mischief and criminal trespass.
In Mohamedali's probation complaint, officers note he was quoted in the media over the weekend advising protesters not to challenge a police line "because they weren't prepared." Rather, he urged the protesters gather again Monday and be more prepared.
"Tell your friends if they care about you they'll be here on Monday," he said, according to the document. "They will help you on Monday. They'll be ready for war on Monday."
A judge agreed Monday that Mohamedali could be released on his own recognizance for the protest-related charges. But she said she didn't have authority to overstep the state's order he be placed in a halfway house for the other case.
So she ordered he remain in jail until he can be moved to Hope House in Coralville, according to his attorney, Rockne Cole. Shortly afterward, Mohamedali was moved to a jail in Marshall County, Cole said.
"It's not unusual, necessarily, to have people placed in other locations. That strikes me as fairly quick, though," Cole said. "That certainly raised an eyebrow on my end."
Cole said that Mohamedali is eager to get back to social justice issues — as he's been leading and helping organize the protests that in recent days closed Interstate 80 and left graffiti on the Old Capitol, UI president's house, Kinnick Stadium and the UI Hospitals and Clinics campus.
"He's a very passionate person, and I think certainly there's a message to be heard," Cole said. "They want to articulate that message, and I anticipate the group will make further messages."
"Ready for war"
So who was the judge willing to ROR Mazin Mohamedali for Case: 06521 FECR126399 (JOHNSON), Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree, a Class D Felony, and Trespass - Injury or Damage Greater than $300, a Serious Misdemeanor; and dismiss Case: 06521 SMSM112368 (JOHNSON) Unlawful Assembly, a simple misdemeanor, and Disorderly Conduct - Obstruct Public Way, a simple misdemeanor; and Case: 06521 SMSM112369 (JOHNSON), Criminal Mischief 5th degree, a simple misdemeanor? Vanessa Miller doesn't mention the name.
It was Judge Deborah Farmer Minot.
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| Sixth Judicial Judge Deborah Farmer Minot |
Who is Deborah Farmer Minot?
She's your typical Johnson County judge. She's been with the Johnson County injustice system for a long time. Starting in 1991, she was a juvenile prosecutor, and you know what that means, catch and release, and then became assistant county attorney in 2005. Minot was nominated to the judgeship in 2010 when the Iowa Judicial Nominating Commission was comprised of 11 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 1 unaffiliated member. She was retained in the November 6, 2018 election with 76.49% approval.
We'll get back to Deborah Farmer Minot later.
We'll also continue this post in the future with a comment about Paul Wittau's opinion piece in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on June 11, 2020, his past involvement with the Bernie Sanders campaign, and other matters related to him.
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