Themes of politics and Constitutional rights – articulated at points, an undertone at others – were a focus in the second day of a jury trial of Montezuma County Patriots organizer Sherry Simmons, who has been accused of harassing Peace and Justice marchers on Jan. 2.
That January day – days before Joe Biden was officially named U.S. president – an encounter between the Patriots and local Peace and Justice group signaled the height of political tension and protests in Cortez, at a time when the opposing groups marched on Cortez’s Main Street with signs signaling their beliefs.
Simmons was charged with third-degree harassment after she and a group of about 10 to 15 Patriots followed five Peace and Justice marchers from the intersection of Elm Street and West Main Street to St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, at 110 W. North St. about noon Jan. 2.
Simmons, who is representing herself in the trial, will testify on the third day of her trial, beginning 9 a.m. Friday. Simmons said she originally hired an attorney, who later declined to represent her.
Simmons implored the jury to consider whether her actions, and not the group’s actions, exemplified harassment, before the court viewed a 34-minute video captured by alleged victim and organizer of the Peace and Justice group Raleigh Cato (formerly Marmorstein.)
The video showed Patriots approaching and following the Peace and Justice group, some issuing expletives – language that Simmons later called “horrible.”
The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Jessica Salem of the 22nd Judicial District, urged the jury – vetted for political involvement – to ignore “ noise” lingering behind the courtroom bar.
That bar, she argued, separated them from the only issue at hand, a mere act of harassment in line with Colorado Statute 18-9-11 and the political and media traction the case was gaining outside the court.
While Salem said the case itself wasn’t political, Simmons argued that it was.
Salem argued that the case wasn’t about the First Amendment, gun rights, Patriots, Black Lives Matter, Republicans versus Democrats or Fox News versus CNN.
Three witnesses testified Thursday, and Simmons cross-examined them.
First up was Cato, who maintained her position that she felt harassed by Simmons herself Jan. 2, even when a juror’s question asked her to later clarify that point.
To that juror question, Cato said Simmons and another woman were the “main communicators, leaders and organizers” of the Patriots and “had encouraged the behavior of those with them.”
She said she felt the physiological symptoms of fear – racing heart, flushed face and sweaty palms – when initially seeing Patriots approach her group at Elm and West Main streets.
“It was very clear that their intention was to protest over us,” she said.
She said it was usual for the Patriots “to harass and follow us on multiple occasions.”
Simmons asked whether it was possible for the Patriots to be protesting out of “compassion and very much concern for the future of this nation,” rather than protesting to combat the efforts of the Peace and Justice group.
Cato was aware that the Patriots were protesting farther east on Main Street that day, she said, although she said she originally thought they were stationary. She said the Peace and Justice members usually protested where the Patriots were, but switched locations after seeing that they occupied the corner that day.
Cato said her group did not approach, engage in conversation, raise voices, flip-off or respond to the Patriots.
Further questioning led Cato to admit that Peace and Justice members felt relief when Patriots began to leave the sidewalk in front of the church where they took “sanctuary.”
Some members were crying and shaken, and needed assistance to their cars, Cato said.
Cato said she and other Peace and Justice members engaged in nonviolent deescalation training as a group when Simmons asked about her protest experience.
The Peace and Justice protesters shifted their primary marching grounds from Montezuma Avenue to Main Street “to gain more visibility,” Cato said, not to compete with the Patriots, whom she didn’t realize held “rallies” on the street.
Mentions of Patriots carrying arms surfaced repeatedly. Simmons said it was usual for her to carry a gun, and asked Cato whether she was shocked to see her weapon that day.
The Jan. 2 incident “felt different” from previous brushes the groups had experienced, Cato said.
Cato recalled that Simmons approached her at a restaurant after the Jan. 2 incident, and that Simmons stated that she knew Cato and “surrounded” her table with a group.
Private Facebook messages between the two included one in which Cato asked Simmons whether she was proud of her actions Jan. 2.
In a long response, Simmons sent prayer and the sentiment “I love you,” to Cato, court proceedings revealed.
While the follow-up conversations weren’t hostile but were “unexpected,” Cato said, “I don’t find it friendly to have prayer forced upon me.”
The investigating officer on the original case next testified. Steven King, then a member of the Cortez Police Department but now an officer for Colorado State Patrol, said the video evidence, shown in court, showed Patriots following Peace and Justice members for three blocks.
Then, by way of interviews, social media, conversations with fellow officers, previous contacts and body cams, he began identifying Patriots who followed the Peace and Justice group to the church. He was not able to identify them all, and that was why only six participants were charged with harassment, he said.
The other five entered into diversion agreements, District Attorney Matt Margeson told The Journal earlier this week.
Mayor Mike Lavey was the third to testify. He said that after observing the groups in his car, he became concerned that physical violence might occur, and he began to follow what was going on, even making two calls to dispatch to request a law enforcement presence to keep the peace.
He did not recall a conversation with Simmons, in which she said he asked if she was with the Patriots. Simmons showed a photo of the two that she said was taken that day, although there was no timestamp and the mayor could not corroborate her claims of their exchange.
He also denied he was at the event as a legal observer, after a victim statement read by Simmons appeared to claim otherwise. Cato also denied his involvement as a planned legal observer but said the group did request their presence them at bigger events.
“I would stand up to protect any citizen in Cortez that was being threatened by somebody else,” he said.
He said he assisted some Peace and Justice members to their cars.
The Journal will update with more details, as well as coverage of the third day.
