Kevin Olliff Released From Prison After 18 Months
After over a year and a half in prison on stalking charges, yesterday Kevin Olliff was released.
Kevin was charged with “stalking” for his role in the POM Wonderful and UCLA campaigns in Los Angeles. Tuesday a judge sentenced him to three years in prison. In California’s prison system, prisoners serve about half their sentence. The three-year sentence translated to his immediate release.
Very little news on Kevin’s case was publicized during his incarceration. With the lack of updates made public, the case of Kevin Olliff was sadly under-publicized and under-noticed by the animal rights movement, despite its serious implications (Kevin was convicted merely of participating in home demonstrations). Most of the news on Kevin Olliff was dominated by exaggerated and inaccurate news reports, claiming Kevin was a “member of the Animal Liberation Front”. In fact, at no point were any such allegations made by the prosecution.
Kevin has five years of probation ahead of him, but he is out of prison. Welcome home.
I think an important note for the movement with regard to Kevin’s case is that the state went after him alleging he was part of a criminal street gang. In this case, they alleged the ALF was the criminal street gang (so the state did actually make allegations he was part of the ALF, but it was on a misunderstanding of what the ALF is — in other words, they said that by participating in home demos where some of the chants conveyed messages of support for the ALF, that Kevin was therefor a part of the ALF. There were never any allegations by the prosecution that Kevin did anything beyond the demonstrations; no allegations of liberations, break ins, property destructions, anything like that.).
Anyway, this all to say that this might be a tactic that states will start trying to use more often against the AR movement. Thankfully, Kevin managed to get the gang allegations kicked out in his case. (The gang allegations were the bulk of the time he was looking at under the indictment.) But I could see it sticking if other cases, or before a different judge.
Welcome Home Kevin!
California as a state has pioneered the use of ‘criminal street gang’ enhancement statutes against groups one might not normally assume to be indictable under such statutes – ‘tagging’ crews and the like. The grave danger in such applications is related to their penalties – in the case of California’s statute, ten years, and a so-called ‘strike’ for each alleged ‘gang crime.’
I would actually disagree with the assertion that the most ‘serious implications’ of Kevin’s case lie in its criminalization of pure speech. I think the gravest implications relate to the general use of astronomical ‘over-charging’ and special penalties in all recent animal rights cases (irrespective of whether they involve speech or overtly criminal activity). When such significant amounts of time are involved, and the costs of our activism are of such great dimensions (both for those prosecuted as individuals and for the movement as a whole), we must reconsider the actions that we are taking, from a strategic standpoint. To blindly act without consideration of strategy, appropriateness of tactics, worthwhileness of a particular action in relation to the state repression it is likely to provoke, etc, is to continue on a path to collective suicide, and the loss of a vibrant effective movement for a ‘scene’ dominated by egos rhetoric and drama. Our collective response to the recent repression has been: 1) to flail around in fear and/or 2) more of the same. Both constitute tragedies.
And Kevin has only three years of state parole ahead of him, to correct a minor point.
I was his cellmate in twin towers, i was wrongly accused myself. Im long outa there system, can anyone notify kevin to get in touch with me? @ miketsn772@gmail.com thank you, and merry x mas to all..