When it comes to trespassing on Vandenberg Air Force Base, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon McCaslin doesn’t seem to be very lenient.
McCaslin and her team of assistant U.S. attorneys recently prosecuted Michael David Omondi on Feb. 16 for stepping foot on the base during a vigil last August commemorating the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
It was a familiar scene for McCaslin inside courtroom 202 at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Barbara, where she has prosecuted cases regarding Vandenberg protests before, including Omondi’s. Omondi, who was born in Kenya, has been arrested while protesting at Vandenberg at least five other times.
The trial lasted for roughly three hours, and was like watching two Superbowl rivals meeting for a regular season game.
There was McCaslin, the lead prosecuting attorney, who also twice prosecuted Agoura Hills resident John Gladwin for not having his dog on a leash in Santa Monica National Recreation Area.
On the side of the defense, there was Dennis Apel, who testified in support of Omondi. Apel also has quite a history with Vandenberg (and McCaslin), including a past case challenging his trespassing convictions, which reached the Supreme Court twice, but got kicked back both times after justices refused to consider his First Amendment arguments. Assisting Omondi with representing himself was Scott Fina, a former U.S. Marine and New Jersey state trooper with a Ph.D. in political science from Temple University. Fina also assisted Apel with his case until it reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but he’s not an attorney.
Both Apel and Omondi are volunteers with the Catholic Worker movement, which has roots in charity and social justice. Omondi and others came from Los Angeles on Aug. 6, 2016, to protest the United States’ use of nuclear missiles. It’s an activity for which Apel has been arrested more than 20 times in the past two decades. Vandenberg is also the place where Air Force missileers are trained.
Like Apel, Omondi was convicted of 18 U.S.C. 1382, or the federal law that prohibits trespassing on military bases, but not without first mounting his own self-defense.
“They’re really pressing it,” Apel said of the U.S. government’s case against Omondi.
In the past, McCaslin called for the maximum sentence against Apel for the same infraction as Omondi, which is six months in jail and a fine. Apel got four months in jail.
The Constitution guarantees American citizens the right to a fair and speedy trial, which Omondi exercised with the help of Fina.
Instead of pressing his First Amendment right to protest, Omondi argued that he wasn’t guilty of trespassing because he hadn’t received a proper warning.
Vandenberg officials prepared for the August demonstration by blocking the inbound lane of California Boulevard with a patrol vehicle and a line of Air Force security officers at the base’s guard shack, as detailed in court.
Meanwhile, a group of peaceful protesters occupied a small, designated plot of land adjacent to the gate holding banners and chanting. The slow bang of a drum was heard amid the sounds of nearby traffic, as was heard in a video of the incident played in court.
Sometime after 2 p.m., two protesters—Jed Poole and Chris Knudson—broke from the group and crossed the green line demarking lawful and unlawful entry and proceeded to march side by side, occasionally stopping, toward a line of officers at the guard shack.
In the video of the incident, which was taken by Air Force security personnel, there’s what sounds like a person speaking over a loudspeaker. It was a pre-printed warning proclamation read by Master Sgt. Manuel Cervantez alerting Poole and Knudsen that they were trespassing and that they had two minutes to leave the base, Cervantez explained at the Feb. 16 trial.
“Vandenberg Air Force Base is a closed installation,” Cervantez said in the video. “You are outside a designated area.”
When Poole and Knudson reached the line, they were arrested, brought into the nearby visitors center where they were cited and promptly released.
A short while later, Omondi took the same path and walked toward the line. He was wrapped in an American flag and at one point raised his hand to show a peace sign, as shown in the video. When Omondi reached the line, he said something.
“I’m here to thank you all for your service,” Omondi said shortly before being apprehended and handcuffed by two security personnel. Omondi asked one of them, Airman Nicholas Ignazio, why he was being handcuffed.
The crux of Omondi’s argument is that he shouldn’t be cited for trespassing because Ignazio didn’t give him a clear chance to leave right before getting handcuffed. That argument comes despite the loudspeaker warning, which Omondi claims he didn’t hear, and a posted warning sign, which Omondi claims he didn’t see.
The government, however, argued that the verbal warning and posted sign were more than sufficient. McCaslin’s team called several witnesses, including Cervantez, Ignazio, and Air Force Technical Sgt. Robert Ruelas, who took the stand in uniform.
Another point of contention for Omondi was the fact that the visitors center—a building accessible to the general public—stood beyond the green line the protesters weren’t allowed to cross.
In court, Ruelas testified that he was the “team leader for confrontation management” on the day of the protest. According to Ruelas, his job was to “protect the assets and resources” of the base. He also witnessed Omondi’s arrest. Ruelas testified on the rules of engaging the protesters as well as the perception of the sound coming from the loudspeakers.
Ruelas said it was “loud enough to be heard,” although neither a scientific measurement nor any hearing tests were presented at trial.
At one point during testimony, the prosecution team asked Ruelas to identify Omondi in the courtroom. Ruelas—an Air Force servicemember sworn to protect the same freedom Omondi was exercising, the freedom to assemble peacefully, when he was arrested for trespassing—pointed at the defendant. Omondi, wearing a knitted hat, nodded in acknowledgement.
Apel testified in Omondi’s defense, saying that enforcement of the no trespassing rule wasn’t consistent in his more than two decades of protesting at Vandenberg.
Shortly before 1 p.m., both sides rested their cases, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Louise LaMothe read the verdict.
Given the protest, the obvious preparations made by base personnel, the green line, and Omondi’s past confrontations at the base for similar infractions, LaMothe declined to dismiss the charge and instead found him guilty of trespassing.
“There was a loud speaker warning given,” LaMothe said. “Was it perfect? Maybe not. But I think that you were on notice, particularly you, because it was not your first protest. You knew that going over the green line at least made you run the risk that you would be arrested. Isn’t that the whole point?”
Omondi told the Sun that he wasn’t surprised at the outcome and plans to appeal, believing that LaMothe doesn’t have much experience dealing with issues at Vandenberg. He also accused the prosecutorial team of being overzealous for a trespassing charge.
“They tend to be rather aggressive to a level that borders on prosecutorial misconduct,” Omondi said.
At the conclusion of the trial, LaMothe ordered a pre-sentence investigation report for Omondi that’s due on May 18 at 3 p.m. in the same courtroom. Depending on the results, Omondi may get sentenced on that day, but he also may object and appeal.
Staff Writer David Minsky can be reached at dminsky@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 2, 2017.