“I had just sent them the witness and exhibit list, and the next day I got the message that they had decided to drop it,” said attorney Kylah Clay.
In September, Nathan Phillips and Nastasia Lawton-Sticklor tried to deliver food to immigrants at the ICE facility in Burlington, following months of revelations about the office being used to house detainees for multiple days. They were arrested and charged by Burlington Police with misdemeanor trespassing.
Instead of striking a deal with prosecutors, the pair decided to go to trial and bring witnesses to testify about the controversial facility.
“I am disappointed that we weren't able to tell those stories in [court] and really shed light on what's happening,” said Lawton-Sticklor, a Leominster-based activist who was representing herself pro se in the proceedings. “But I also think that criminalizing protest is not a good thing.”
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