BREAKING NEWS: Arrested protester identified; incident unrelated to gathering in front of Leo's house, police say
NORTHEAST HARBOR - Eli Durand-McDonnell, 21 of Bar Harbor, faces a disorderly conduct charge after he yelled obscenities at Leonard Leo and family on Main Street from a car while heading to a protest in front of Leo’s house Sunday afternoon,
Police said, “Durand-McDonnell was arrested in relation to conduct that occurred earlier in the day in another location that was separate from any activities that took place at the peaceful protest. Mr. Durand-McDonnell was transported to the Hancock County Jail without incident.” He posted a $60 bond and was released. Disorderly conduct is a Class E misdemeanor punishable by 180 days in jail and a maximum fine of $1,000.
The relevant Maine law states, “In a public or private place, the person knowingly accosts, insults, taunts or challenges any person with offensive, derisive or annoying words, or by gestures or other physical conduct, that would in fact have a direct tendency to cause a violent response by an ordinary person in the situation of the person so accosted, insulted, taunted or challenged.”
State Rep. Lynne Williams, an attorney who has represented protesters, said the law is a “catch-all” used under multiple circumstances, including protests. She said police generally try not to arrest protesters, except in certain cases. In this case you had a wealthy, politically connected complainant.
She said Durand-McDonnell clearly was exercising political speech, a protected right under the First Amendment and that the arrest abridged his Constitutional freedom.
Protesters have regularly staked out the area in front of Leonard Leo’s house for most of the summer. He is the Federalist Society senior operative blamed for mentoring an entire generation of federal judges opposed to abortion, climate initiatives and other progressive causes.
Colin Woodard, renowned Maine author and journalist, profiled Leo in this article in 2019 in which Leo was quoted as stating his house here would serve as “a retreat for our large family and for extending hospitality to our community of personal and professional friends and co-workers.” https://www.centralmaine.com/2019/08/18/why-did-trumps-judge-whisperer-buy-a-house-on-the-maine-coast/
Leon was introduced to Maine by members of the family of C. Boyden Gray, White House counsel to president George H. W. Bush.
Go Eli!!! Monarchists are not welcome in Maine though there is a history of monarchists vs revolutionaries back to 1776
Damn Lincoln if only there had been political activists in the area who were against the police. "I supported the face-eating leopards my entire life—I never expected they'd eat MY face!"