$250K bond set for woman in pie attack on Sen. Levin

[Bozita]

Source: AP

Posted: 8:13 a.m. Aug. 17, 2010 | Updated: 9:55 p.m. today
$250K bond set for woman in pie attack on Sen. Levin
ASSOCIATED PRESS


BIG RAPIDS — An anti-war protester accused of hitting Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin in the face with an apple pie during a constituent meeting in northern Michigan is jailed on a $250,000 bond.

Twenty-two-year-old Ahlam M. Mohsen of Coldwater was arraigned today on a felony count of stalking and other charges.

A Mecosta County district judge set her bond at $250,000, requiring a cash payment of $25,000 for her to get out of jail.

Mohsen has said she opposes U.S. military policy and its support for Israel. She was arrested last year for sitting in at Levin’s Lansing office.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20100817/NEWS06/100817017/1318/250K-bond-set-for-woman-in-pie-attack-on-Sen.-Levin#ixzz0wwBwcT5n

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Anybody else think $250K is a bit much for the charges?

[dkf]

1. Meringue would have been nicer.

An apple pie seems kind of rough.

[tomm2thumbs]

6. she was arraigned, but he would have been meringue'd

sorry - I'll go now

[guitar man]

15. Banana would have been my choice

It might afford a better chance at appeal. :P

[lostnfound]

2. What wimps our leaders have become. A pie in the face?

BFD. Not only is $250K a bit much, she should not have been charged.

[Skittles]

3. it is an assault

but that does seem like a high amount

[dencol]

4. Last time I was assaulted for being gay, nothing happened.

And it was even on an airplane by an airline employee. I'd much rather take a pie to the face than being kicked in the shin and having a slur tossed my way. The other posters are right: BFD!

[Skittles]

5. well, that is wrong too

[No Elephants]

23. I''m sorry that happened.

[activa8tr]

38. Care to tell us the details? I'd like to know why a civil suit couldn't

happen if that is true.

There's millions to be gained from an unprovoked attack by an employee of any major corporation against someone simply for being who one is. There's probably criminal action that could follow, too.

Some guy is suing a Youtube video guy and suing Youtube for $500,000 for filming his ice cream truck, and no assault nor slander happened.

I'm sure you would have a better case than that.

[lostnfound]

8. In practice, the likelihood of assault charges varies with power & status

which shouldn't be the case. Anti-war protestor attacks a congressman with a pie? Throw the book at them. Attack an anti-war protestor with a baton or pepper spray? Usually it's fair game, just doing their job, probably deserved it..

I just don't think I would press charges if someone threw a pie in my face.

[No Elephants]

24. I hope you would. Because the practice should be discouraged before it proliferates.

I wouldn't want a pie thrown in my face while I was trying to do my job, ruining my 'do and clothes, maybe hurting me, depending on the force used.

[Bitwit1234]

18. Since he was a federal employee and this was an assault

that is about correct. But I think Bachmann should have been arrested for conspiracy when she urged people to go into the representatives offices and get in their face. How come they let her off.

[No Elephants]

36. "Small" difference. Assault is a crime. Expressing yourself in words to your government is a right.

[name not needed]

20. I doubt Levin actually had anything to do with charging her,

considering afterwards he was joking around about how he would have preferred blueberry.

[KansDem]

32. Really! How would Sen. Sales have reacted?

[t0dd]

34. +1

[Judi Lynn]

7. Her target was a mild-mannered, totally calm, low-key 76 years-old man.

I fail to see the reason why there has been a gathering of slugs around this event's threads, making light of an underhanded, dirty attack.

If the pig had differences with Levin's policies, she should have had the dignity to address these differences as a mature person would, not like a stinking, ignorant brat.

I see in the O.P. she also graced his offices with her presence last year and was arrested.

If she really hates US violence against the people of the Mid-East, as I believe anyone should, the solution is stil NOT public violence against any people here, or elsewhere. So it's o.k. to pie Levin? No, it's not.

Hasn't anyone been informed by parents, or common sense, or respect for others this is wrong, and only an a-hole would do it?

If she's serious about her beliefs she must still find a way to persuade people to see the error of their policies. THAT's what will bring the end to that crap, not making a public spectacle of herself for attention.

On edit, if you're serious about your cause, YOU do the sacrifice, YOU endure the discomfort, don't stick it to someone else. That's the lazy, dirty way.

The Buddhist monks who set themselves on fire to protest to the world what was happening in VietNam told others in ways they could not forget something terrible was happening which people of conscience should by nature, and character want to end.

You never saw one of them sneak up and slam a gooey bit of crap into someone's face, instead.

[Divine Discontent]

9. exactly, good post. persuade, not thump with a REAL pie! that's assault, it's not like it was just

whipped cream in a flimsy tin. And he's an old man, that could cause him to have an attack/stroke.

[onehandle]

10. Agreed. nt

[Liberation Angel]

11. "The "Pig"???!!!???

Jesus help us!

The war is the crime, the pie in the face is a political statement.

Yeah, technically an assault. But no intent to harm anyone. The intent is to embarrass and shame Levin I imagine.

Frankly I think DUers should rally to support her, perhaps not in her tactics but in the blatantly inhumane and I would argue criminally unjust bond.

So, Judy, you advocate suicide as protest? Imagine that! Isn't that a bit overdone these days? Don't the powers that be WANT us to kill ourselves over the oppression and wars and despondency. Suicide is NOT a peaceful protest it is violent and horrific. And others can be seriously hurt and even killed.

I think we ought to set up a fund here at DU top help bail her out.

Not because what she did was right but because the wars are wrong and the retribution against her for her protest is waaaay wrong.

Just sayin'.

And Levin out not to press charges. It makes him look like a wimp and a vengeful tool of the warmongers.


I like Levin most of the time, but he needs to have more backbone than this. It sounds personal. And she is way at a disadvantage and used a pretty peaceful means to make her statement. (Or would you have preferred she blew herself up or self-immolated?)
Liberation Angel

[No Elephants]

28. Deciding crime is okay if someone agrees with the perp is VERY dicey business.

I recommend steering far clear of it. And nothing about assault is peaceful.

P.S. Neither hitting a man pushing 80 in the face or killing yourself are peaceful or non-violent. However, I believe you have far more of a moral right to hurt yourself than you do to hurt another. I also find it ludicrous to protest war through acts of violence.

Fortunately, hitting an old man in the face with a pie (or anything) and killing yourself violently up are not the only two ways to protest a war. (Holy false dichotomies, Batman!)

[Judi Lynn]

35. Before I pointed out extreme cases I said your case looks more credible if YOU don't harm others,

if you don't force hardship on someone else. If someone has to pay for your beliefs it only works if you do it yourself. You have no right to bypass legitimate communication and go right into violence against a person.

Deliberate misrepresentation of someone else's sincere comments isn't acceptable, either. Don't know what you've got against me, but it won't be solved by mocking my post. You know perfectly well I didn't say there are "only two ways to protest a war."

[No Elephants]

37. ???? My post was to Liberation Angel, not to you.

[Liberation Angel]

40. I did not create the false dichotomy

The poster I responded to talked about self immolation/suicide. I was responding to that.

[JNelson6563]

13. Thank you.

There are other ways to address this situation and Levin makes himself very available to his constituents.

Julie

[Gin]

22. I agree....

[wordpix]

25. +1 Levin is a legitmate senator and a good one, who doesn't even deserve this

The woman, in contrast, is not elected to vote her conscience or stand by her constituents. She's a rude boor who assaulted a senator. If she assaulted me like this because she didn't like my stand on certain issues, I'd file a complaint.

[MisterP]

33. I agree: someone like Lieberman or Lincoln is way more deserving

or we could just go the Enrique Gorriarán Merlo road

[JustAnotherGen]

44. Beautifully said

[Liberation Angel]

12. Levin needs to interevene and get her released

He should drop these pernicious charges.

It makes him look weak and vulnerable (which he isn't) and vindictive and petty.

She protested peacefully. Sure it was a nonviolent act of civil;defiance and theater. But it was nonviolent and appropriate imho.

Levin needs to grow some cojones or ovaries or SOMETHING and help this woman out.

Reconciliation NOT retribution.

The wars are wrong and Levin knows it. They should be working together not against each other. But Levin needs to move against the wars and help this woman out.

Otherwise he looks like a tool and a wimp and I hope he really is neither.

[izquierdista]

14. A bit much

Besides, his glasses, cantilevered out 3 inches past his nose, probably took the brunt of the fruit filling.

[derby378]

16. Felony charges - for a PIE?!?

[zonkers]

27. Question. How do you know it's only a benign pie when it's actually being tossed? Such behavior

could have not only caused an overreaction by security that could have harmed not only the assailant but bystander as well.

Also a two pound pie in the face could definitely mess up the eyes of a senior like Levin. Just sayin.

[No Elephants]

29. For assault.

[Javaman]

17. I wonder if she say she was exercizing her right to freedom of speech?

I'm serious.

[Uncle Joe]

30. Your freedom of speech stops at the border of assault and/or battery.

Having said that don't be too quick in denigrating people's belief that their freedom of speech was violated, you don't want to toss the baby out with the bath water.

[No Elephants]

31. No. Her rights end where his right not to be assaulted begins. She can't

blow up a federal building with impunity because she's upset about war or how government functions, either. Or to steal or destroy property with impunity just because she feels wealth is distributed inequitably in our society.

You don't get to commit crimes with impunity just because your motivation is allegedly political. (If it were otherwise, every lawbreaker would be claiming to have been commiting a crime, from littering to murder, for the purpose of making some kind of statement or another.)

No right is absolute. Never has been.

[Javaman]

41. Thanks for the explanation. I was playing a bit of the devils advocate. nt

[kirby]

19. She dared criticize our blind support of Israel...

If her protest had only been the war, I bet the charges would have been much less.

[indepat]

21. Anyone daring to suggest US blind support of Israel would seem begging to be taught a good

lesson. :)

[wordpix]

26. that's not the issue---assaulting a senator is

[No Elephants]

39. Serving food without a license?

[Vidar]

42. Levin's my Senator & I like him, but 250K is an excessive bond

for a non-violent albeit justifiably illegal political protest. Assault with a pie & assault with a baseball bat should be treated differently.

[Psephos]

43. You speak for me as well. n/t