{"id":2329,"date":"2017-03-10T02:07:36","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T08:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourteeneastmag.com\/?p=2329"},"modified":"2017-03-11T12:10:33","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T18:10:33","slug":"the-cleveland-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourteeneastmag.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/10\/the-cleveland-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cleveland 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justine Strehle was awoken on a Monday morning by a phone call from a friend. Her boyfriend, Brandon Baxter, had been arrested. It was a Cleveland spring just under five years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, Strehle thought it was a joke. She lived with Baxter at the time and describes him today as one of the sweetest people she has ever dated. <\/span><\/p>\n

The couple was essentially homeless back then \u2015 living in a warehouse that the Occupy Cleveland Movement had rented with as many as 20 other people at a time. Baxter\u2019s room was nothing more than a tent, stocked with the few possessions he had brought from his dad\u2019s house that was being foreclosed. At one point, half of their mattress was covered in black mold, causing Strehle to become sick after nights of sleeping on it. Baxter nursed her back to health. He had paid their bills and made sure they could eat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then he was arrested. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Brandon
Brandon Baxter (courtesy of Justine Strehle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baxter and four others \u2015 Douglas Wright, Connor Stevens, Joshua Stafford and Anthony Hayne \u2015 were arrested on April 30, 2012, in what the FBI characterized as a sting operation. According to court documents, the five had been charged with conspiracy to use explosives, attempt to use explosives and malicious attempt to destroy a northeast Ohio bridge. However, Strehle believes that it was actually FBI entrapment, and that they were manipulated by FBI informant Shaquille Azir to participate in the attempted destruction of the bridge. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Justice Department<\/span><\/a>, entrapment is a criminal defense that argues the government has coerced innocent people into criminal acts in order to prosecute them. In the court of law, this defense can rest on \u201cmild coercion, [pleas] based on need, sympathy, or friendship [or] extraordinary promises of the sort \u2018that would blind the ordinary person to his legal duties.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Anthony Hayne, according to court documents, pleaded guilty on July 25, 2012. He was followed by Wright, Baxter and Stevens, who pleaded guilty on Sept. 5, 2012. Stafford took his case to trial and was <\/span>found guilty on all charges June 13, 2013<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Baxter and Strehle are no longer a couple. But Strehle still cares deeply about him and the other members of the Cleveland 4 \u2015 a name that supporters created after the arrest. Strehle said a lot of political prisoners have a name, and it was an easy way to refer to them all. She runs their <\/span>support website<\/span><\/a> that has updates about their sentencing and new information about their case. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Part 1: The Beginning<\/h3>\n

Baxter is blond and well built. In 2011 he had one-half of his head shaved; he would wear a bandana around his neck or sport a colorful tie-dyed shirt. Sometimes, he would go by the nickname \u201cScavi,\u201d according to Strehle (this is different from the criminal complaint that indicates his nickname was “Skabby”). Baxter first realized he was an anarchist in 2010 when the Occupy Movement was just beginning. He was 18 years old and had a growing dissatisfaction with government and a drive to fight corruption. Most of the others in the Cleveland 4 identified as anarchists in 2011, according to Strehle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not an identity which I created for myself. Rather, I had an epiphany one day that government is inherently bound for corruption,\u201d Baxter wrote in a personal statement in support of his petition for clemency, which he made in the fall of 2016. <\/span><\/p>\n

Baxter surrounded himself with friends who felt the same and became involved with <\/span>Food Not Bombs<\/span><\/a>, an organization filled with activists trying to provide food to those living in poverty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love to cook, and I love being on the streets meeting all of its wonderfully idiosyncratic characters,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency. <\/span><\/p>\n

Food Not Bombs provided food to those involved in Occupy Cleveland, heartily filling the stomachs of all protesters from one tent on the street. Baxter first attended Occupy Cleveland in its early months representing Food Not Bombs, and became more and more engaged in the protest. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Occupy Movement was a protest that started on Wall Street \u2015 commonly known as Occupy Wall Street. The goal was to fight back against big banks and the one percent that owned them \u2015 going by the slogan \u201cWe are the 99 percent.\u201d <\/span>The movement popped up in major cities across the country<\/span><\/a> \u2015 including Cleveland and Chicago \u2015 and protested the <\/span>\u201ccorrosive power\u201d<\/span><\/a> of the big banks and corporations controlling the global market, according to the Occupy Wall Street website. <\/span><\/p>\n

Baxter had solid friends in Occupy and Food Not Bombs, including the other members of the Cleveland 4: Doug Wright, Connor Stevens and Josh Stafford. There was a whole community. The Food Not Bombs tent was turned into a pantry that was open all day and night for the protesters to feast from. Baxter\u2019s girlfriend at the time, Justine Strehle, was a part of this community. She rotates her hair color, but in 2011 it was bright red. She met him on her very first day of working at Occupy in the fall of 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Connor
Connor Stevens (courtesy of Justine Strehle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stevens was also involved in Food Not Bombs for a time, as well as the <\/span>Anarchist Black Cross<\/span><\/a> \u2015 a movement \u201csupporting those imprisoned for struggling for freedom and liberty,\u201d according to their website.<\/span> But he met most of the others that would become the Cleveland 4 at Occupy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another close friend was Gus Hurst, a protester who shared Baxter\u2019s political viewpoints. Hurst is skinny with slicked-back light hair. A rolled cigarette sat between his gap-toothed smile during an interview last spring. While he is a bit hazy about some of the details of what happened five years ago, other memories remain crystal clear. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t idiots,\u201d Hurst said. \u201cThey were smart people with good intentions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Baxter expressed interest in wanting to help people, then and now. \u201cI got involved with Occupy Cleveland not with the intent to terrorize and cause chaos, but to be part of something to affect <\/span>[<\/span><\/i>sic<\/span><\/em>] <\/span><\/i>substantial change for the better,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency. \u201cI just had no idea what I was doing back then.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The beginning was good, but the movement was crumbling with each passing day. According to Strehle, at the time of Baxter\u2019s arrest, a divide was developing between anarchists and liberals within the Occupy Movement. Or, as Strehle describes it, it was a divide between those who wanted to cooperate with the police and those, like Baxter, who did not think it was necessary. But she insists this protest was never intended to be violent. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[The members of Cleveland 4] were picked out and assembled for the ability to be alienated,\u201d Hurst said.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to a document released by the <\/span>Partnership for Civil Justice Fund<\/span><\/a> (PCJF), the FBI treated the Occupy Movement as a potential terrorist threat and had been monitoring the organization since August 2011, at least a month before the protests actually began. In some cases, the FBI notified businesses and the public of Occupy action before the movement organizers had announced anything. <\/span><\/p>\n

FBI spokesperson Christopher Allen declined to comment on this particular case, but said in an email that the \u201cFBI does not investigate individuals based solely on First Amendment-protected activity.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Although five people were arrested in spring 2012, Cleveland 4 only refers to Baxter, Stevens, Wright and Stafford. The fifth man, Hayne, is not included because he <\/span>testified against the others in court<\/span><\/a>, according to Strehle and Hurst. Hayne took a plea deal for a shorter sentence than the other defendants eventually received. The court <\/span>rejected the original plea deal between Hayne and the government<\/span><\/a> on Nov. 30, 2012. He received six years in prison and life on parole. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hayne was the oldest of those involved, approximately 37 years old at the time of the arrest. By testifying, Hayne lost the others\u2019 trust, Hurst said. That is why the convicted are known as the Cleveland 4 and not the Cleveland 5, as seen on the support website Strehle runs.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Part 2: The Informant<\/h3>\n

It was autumn. The FBI had directed a paid informant \u2015 going by the name of Shaquille Azir \u2015 to investigate any suspicious or potentially threatening activity at an Occupy Cleveland protest on Oct. 21, 2011. It was there Azir met Douglas Wright.<\/p>\n

Wright was in his mid-twenties; he had black hair and a mohawk. He was part of a group of men that the <\/span>court documents describe as suspicious<\/span><\/a> \u2015 walkie-talkies hanging around their necks and masks covering their faces, wearing black clothes and holding anarchist flags. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wright told Azir he had been identifying as an anarchist for the past 12 years, showing him scars of a broken nose and missing teeth from previous protests turned riots, <\/span>according to the criminal complaint<\/span><\/a>\u2015 a document of evidence the FBI presented to the court. The two exchanged phone numbers and, from that point on, Azir made himself a fixture in Wright\u2019s life. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always a lot closer to Doug,\u201d Baxter wrote in an email interview in early 2017. \u201cHe met Doug first and used Doug to lure the rest of us into the conspiracy. He spent a lot more time with Doug. Azir definitely tried to insert himself as a parental figure in Doug’s life. Mine as well, but to a lesser degree.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

According to Hurst and Strehle, Wright did not have a relationship with his family. Strehle recalls a conversation she had with Wright where he had stated that being involved with Azir was the first time he had ever felt like he had had a father figure. Hurst was 16 at the time and had a very close relationship with his family, which is why he believes he wasn\u2019t targeted like the others. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Douglas
Douglas Wright (courtesy of Justine Strehle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cCall it entrapment or not,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency. \u201cThe fact remains that Azir took advantage of my poverty by buying me meals, giving me money, giving me a job working directly for him, offering me a place to stay rent-free, and dozens of other promises to assist me in various ways, some more significant than others.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Baxter first met Azir at a 24-hour restaurant in Cleveland in November 2011. Wright, who was a friend of Baxter\u2019s, had introduced them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to affect <\/span>[<\/span><\/i>sic<\/span><\/em>] <\/span><\/i>tangible change, but realized our limitations,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency explaining why meeting with Azir was enticing. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to Baxter, the Occupy encampment had been evicted downtown and there was nowhere for them to go. According to Strehle, they had been living in an abandoned church around this time. And Azir made it easy to talk with him. Right off the bat, he gave them money to cover the meal they were sharing. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHere we were, a group of young white men, torn black jeans, tattoos, piercings, disheveled and dirty from days and weeks on the streets and on the road, a very odd lot smoking re-rolled cigarette butts and copious amounts of marijuana, sitting in a storefront diner in a decent neighborhood with a middle-aged black man dressed in crisp casual attire and studs in his ears, having what happened to be a strange business meeting,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Azir was a paid informant of the FBI. <\/span>According to the criminal complaint<\/span>,<\/span><\/a> he was paid approximately $5,750 and $550 for expenses. He had a <\/span>long criminal record<\/span><\/a>, including one conviction for cocaine possession in 1990, another for robbery in 1991, and several more for passing bad checks. And here he was, working undercover. <\/span><\/p>\n

Azir came with the promise of money and food, and with that a sense of hope. He offered the friends jobs flipping houses, an offer they could not pass up. <\/span><\/p>\n

Baxter\u2019s father was going through his second divorce and was close to being evicted from Baxter\u2019s childhood home. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had taken to leaving home for long stretches at a time, sleeping wherever I happened to be that night, or not at all,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t have a place to crash I\u2019d sleep outside tucked between buildings, under a bench, behind a dumpster. It didn\u2019t matter.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Food was sparse; sometimes Baxter would have to eat meals out of a dumpster. At the same time, Baxter was suffering from drug addiction. He would take and re-roll cigarette butts that he found in ashtrays. At one point Azir gave him Adderall. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe signed a statement claiming that I told him I was prescribed [adderall] and had forgotten to take my dose that day, and he had a prescription and was only trying to help me,\u201d Baxter wrote in an email interview. \u201cBut that was bogus, twisting words, something I had said along the lines about wishing that I was prescribed it because I felt that it leveled me out. And he gave me more than a prescribed dose.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Azir offered Baxter stability. He said he was going to teach Baxter how to drive (he never actually did). But, on a bigger scale, according to Baxter, Azir offered to buy his father\u2019s house that he was close to being evicted from, selling it back to him at a rate he could afford. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf Azir didn\u2019t say stuff like this regularly, his constant offers of assistance, I probably would have steered very clear of him and his talk of explosives,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency. <\/span><\/p>\n

When they first met Azir back in November, Baxter remembers that Azir wanted to know about specific actions they could take beyond just protesting. According to Baxter, he had never viewed the conversation as anything serious \u2015 jokes at best. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Justine_stafford\"
Joshua Stafford and Justine Strehle (courtesy of Justine Strehle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was not until February 2012 that any conversations between the group and Azir were recorded after three months of contact. <\/span>According to the criminal complaint<\/span>,<\/span><\/a> this was because Wright \u201cdid not discuss more definite or detailed plans for criminal activity.\u201d They met up again about three months later. According to the statement Baxter wrote for his clemency petition, he did not even remember Azir\u2019s name. <\/span><\/p>\n

On Feb. 15, 2012, Azir picked Wright up from a local drugstore to get breakfast. Again, he asked Wright about any plans to follow through with their talk of tearing down bank signs. <\/span>According to the criminal complaint<\/span>,<\/span><\/a> Wright had not talked with the four others for some time, and they weren\u2019t as sure about getting involved with Azir. <\/span><\/p>\n

By Feb. 20, the Occupy Cleveland movement was beginning to crumble. All that was left was one booth, according to Baxter, and he had nowhere to go. He felt constrained, like he could not do anything of actual significance as an activist, sensing an overall apathy among his peers. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I hear the phrase \u2018hanging out\u2019 I imagine clothes drying on a line, being blown this way and that by the wind, not doing much of anything,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Azir was the guy with the money \u2015 someone to help them out financially in ways they could not help themselves. And so, conversations with Azir continued. <\/span><\/p>\n

At one point, Baxter recalls kidding about doing a protest at a newly opened Cleveland casino.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI joked that we could find people to lock themselves to the casino doors and take bets on how long it would take for them to be arrested,\u201d Baxter wrote for his petition for clemency. He viewed this as nothing more than a joke. <\/span><\/p>\n

The next meeting Wright and Baxter had with Azir, on Feb. 24, 2012, was the <\/span>first meeting that was recorded.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Court documents<\/span><\/a> suggest that Wright mentioned buying explosives at this meeting as well, but there is no recorded evidence, only what Azir told the FBI after the meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Azir met two more members of the group during the third meeting: Connor Stevens and Anthony Hayne. This was the first meeting that was taped by Azir. The next several meetings, according to court documents, were about the group potentially <\/span>obtaining a copy of the \u201cAnarchist Cookbook,\u201d<\/span><\/a> which details how to build weapons and explosives. <\/span><\/p>\n

When reading back over the transcript of the recordings, Strehle is doubtful that actual plans for violence were ever set in motion. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey sounded like a joke,\u201d Strehle said. \u201cIt was like reading a really bad movie plot.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>one conversation<\/span><\/a>, Wright is shown to have laughed when talking about the <\/span>\u201cAnarchist Cookbook.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>