Federal air marshal gets probation for punching Occupy Boston organizer, stealing her phone

An off-duty air marshal who hit an Occupy Boston organizer and grabbed her camera an hour before police shut down its Dewey Square encampment last December, was sentenced to 18 months' probation and ordered to undergo drug and alcohol treatment and take anger-management classes, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Adam Marshall arrived at the Dewey Square encampment in civilian clothes early on Dec. 10 and began calling female occupiers prostitutes. When Occupier Robin Jacks started videoing him, he smacked her in the face and grabbed her iPhone, then tried to flee. He was cornered by other Occupiers and police, who arrested him.

The DA's office says that if Marshall completes his probation - which also includes 25 hours of community service - without problems, he will not face trial, but that his arrest and probation will remain on his record.

Jacks says she's not particularly happy about the probation because some Occupy Boston participants still face charges stemming from various arrests during Occupy Boston. In a series of recent tweets, she describes the days leading up to his sentencing and her feelings:

The case has been long and stretched out. I'd gotten a lot of calls from the DA. They were intent on going pretty hard on him, it seemed. There were some evidentiary hearings, where I presume the DA and defense exchanged evidence. I'd always be alerted to those. Although it was a bit scary, I was prepared to testify, as were others, apparently. The video I took spoke volumes, though. Toward the end, the DA asked me what I wanted to see from this. My response was always that I don't think it's my place, really. My granddad was a public and private defense attorney, so I was raised in a mindset that victims shouldn't have more than their own voice. So I shared that with this DA in a very honest way, that I don't think it's my place. Her response was that she agreed with me, and that despite that, as the victim of an assault, she wanted me to feel a sense of justice. I felt like that was cool.

So then one day a few weeks ago I got a call from her. It was about 20 minutes before I was due for work. She dropped a bomb on me. The DA told me that the guy who hit me was apparently a "war hero" with PTSD. She didn't seem to want to go so hard on him anymore.

I had mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I felt for this guy, even though he's a stranger who assaulted me because I dared to film his verbal abuse. On the other hand, he fucking hit and robbed me. And he's an AIR MARSHAL and she wants to go easy on him now? Like I'm sorry he has PTSD, but now I do too, because *he gave it to me.*

The sentencing hearing was about 36 hours from that phone call, and all of a sudden this huge responsibility had been dropped into my lap. Anyways, I told her that I couldn't make a judgment about that in the moment. I was on the way to work, and that I had a lot of "feelings." She told me that they wanted to give him probation with a drug and alcohol screening and mandatory psych evaluations. It was such an overwhelming thing to hear all in one fell swoop like that.

I stopped in the Arboretum with my coffee and sank into a bench. It was weird - this very traumatic thing that happened, I had been pushing it away out of being busy and shit, and it just hit me hard. I had to tell her something fast, because I had about ten minutes left before work, so I paused and collected myself. I reminded her that she and/or her department is actively prosecuting many of my friends for peacefully protesting. They didn't hurt anyone. One suggestion of hers was that he have a stay away order from me; I added that he should have a stay away order from #occupyboston.

I told her that I always want every person to have a shot at getting better, at making themselves better, healthier people. But I told her that I couldn't make a call like that on such short notice. It was too hard. She said that I could call her the next day after thinking it over. My sister & her family were coming then. I knew I'd be too busy to call. But I told her that if I felt like probation wasn't okay, I would call her the next day. I reminded her again that the DA is prosecuting my friends for peaceful protest and recommending probation for a man who hit and robbed me.

According to an attorney with whom I spoke, the probation he got was quite long, compared to people with similar offenses. I have to meet with DHS investigators again regarding the employment status of the man who assaulted me. He hasn't been fired. Their investigation couldn't continue during his court case.

I definitely don't feel like *I* got justice, but maybe *he* did. Therefore, I'm okay with it. Honestly, I feel for him, wish him the best.

Now, here's the fun part. I don't like to talk about "twitter capital." It makes me feel like a douche. That said, I know I have it. I am sitting on a lot of unused twitter capital, actually. The DA's continued prosecutions of my peacefully protesting friends is abhorrent & wrong; after what I went through, I'm especially certain. I'm fully prepared to make a "thing" of this. Dude who punched me 1 hr before our raid? Probation. Peaceful protesters? CHARGES STILL STAND.