A judge granted Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) attorney Thomas Webb Jurgens $5,000 bond Tuesday in his first court appearance after being charged with domestic terrorism following a violent protest against a DeKalb County, Georgia, police facility construction site.
Jurgens is one of 23 people facing the domestic terrorism charge linked to the alleged violent attack at the so-called “Cop City” training center site Sunday, with police footage showing masked, black clothing-clad individuals throwing incendiary objects and machinery going up in flames. The SPLC stated Monday that Jurgens was acting as a legal observer on the National Lawyers Guild’s (NLG) behalf when he was arrested, calling the arrest evidence of “heavy-handed law enforcement intervention against protesters” rather than a crime, and Jurgens’ lawyer said in the Tuesday court hearing featuring the other defendants that he was wearing a bright yellow NLG hat and bright green shirt at the time.
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Lawyer Peter Johnson, representing the State of Georgia, said they would agree to Jurgens receiving unsupervised judicial release, but DeKalb County Magistrate Judge Anna Davis decided to assign him a $5,000 bond, which his attorney indicated he could pay. Davis denied initial bond to more than 15 other individuals charged with domestic terrorism, citing community safety concerns and mentioning how many came to the area from other states.
Protestors have demonstrated against the planned police training center since 2020, some allegedly occupying publicly-owned land at times over more than a year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. More than 18 people had been charged with domestic terrorism for actions in opposition to the facility prior to Sunday’s events.
The SPLC did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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