Ok I spoke with my lawyer and here’s some updated info on the bullshit the state tried to pull in my case. A lot of this same shit was pulled for others arrested the day the PSU library was raided, but I know some of the details vary and I don’t know everyone’s specifics so I will stick to sharing what I do know/my situation.
From the beginning my lawyer and I were having a hard time getting discovery from the state. When it was finally received, it was about 5 pages long and nothing but documents. Where were all the photos and videos? A lot was missing from discovery. There was a lot of back and forth, until they finally sent over the footage they said they would.
When we finally got the new discovery, it contained over 75 hours of body cam footage from the Oregon State Police. They were assisting PPB on May 2, but I was arrested by PPB, and by the time my arrest happened, OSP had been gone for hours. We only just got this in November, and the DA was like “omg sorry we just learned they exist.” (not exact quote 😅)
The DA’s office insisted that was the only footage they had.
Before one the trials for one the PSU students who was arrested, they found people wearing PPB patches, tactical vests, and sidearms on their person holding large selfie sticks with GoPros attached filming while standing with the police on May 2nd. This caused an investigation with the Internal Police Review Committee. Because again, they said PPB had no footage.
They came back and said that these were not cops, but “criminologists” working for the city attorneys office and that the devices being used to take this footage are the city attorneys office property. They said that this footage served only one purpose, to be used to protect the police bureau and officers in case of a civil lawsuit.
It should be noted that some of this footage *was* used by the state to try to prosecute a student. But either way, this is a huge violation. All defendants are entitled to that footage and not disclosing it is a huge problem.
The city attorneys office ended up getting subpoenaed for this footage. Up until this point, the DA’s office was playing stupid pretending like they didn’t know this existed. Odd, considering one of the DA’s (Mota) was on the ground with the police that day helping with strategy and plans. She was part of their command post. She was inside one of those vans when they were doing all the arrests. She was being consulted.
My lawyer kept up her persistence on trying to get this footage from the DA and the rest of discovery. This kept up until after the city attorneys office was subpoenaed. Finally, the DA sends my lawyer something and attached is two random videos, one titled “Azar video # 13,” and another random number. My lawyer responded asking her where the hell the other numbers the DA decided not to include were, and other necessary information, like where did this video come from, who took it, etc. Nothing. The case is now dismissed, but we have still yet to hear back about this.
For folks who don’t know, they don’t get to be selective with discovery. They are required to send anything that could be exculpatory. They are obligated to screen what they have to see if it contains any Brady material. Anything that could exonerate you, show you in a positive light, mitigate your sentence etc. Stuff that the defense may want to use. Identifying information about who took said video is also discoverable, what if they need to be called as a witness?
They were sanctioned for discovery violations and Brady violations in other trials where the defendants ended up getting acquitted. Hiding footage and discovery like this is extremely shady.
At this point, every case from this day that’s gone to trial has resulted in an acquittal. We anticipate the same for the others who haven’t gone yet. Others have had their cases dropped, and those who took plea deals will have their charges dropped upon completing whatever they agreed to in their plea deals.
So, all in all, there is a high chance that the occupation of the PSU library will have resulted in zero charges for anyone lol.
Alissa Azar /
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2025-01-29 22:51:05
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2025-01-29 22:51:05Event JSON
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