{"id":5687,"date":"2017-09-07T02:53:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T02:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/?page_id=5687"},"modified":"2018-01-10T01:07:07","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T01:07:07","slug":"9-6-2016-prolific-the-rappers-drone-taken-firstamendmentviolation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/?page_id=5687","title":{"rendered":"Aaron &#8220;Prolific The Rapper&#8221; Turgeon&#8217;s Drone Taken by Sheriff&#8217;s Deputies on 9-6-2016, Found &#8220;Not Guilty&#8221; on 5-26-2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 Aaron aka &#8220;Prolific The Rapper&#8221; made a name for himself following the release of a uniquely moving music video on Sep 21, 2016:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nh_HCqp3sd0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Earlier that month, on September 6, 2016, \u00a0while flying a drone above<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.OcetiSakowinCamp.org\">Oceti Sakowin Camp<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, his camcorder-equipped drone used to &#8220;document from the skies&#8221; was <em>taken<\/em> by<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MortonCountySD\/\">Morton County Sheriff&#8217;s Deputies<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">. \u00a0Footage by<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"fwn fcg\"><span class=\"fwb fcg\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;;&quot;}\"><a id=\"js_18i6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/john.wathen.944?hc_ref=ART9MW9HgOHcJAKKbP6vdMOq761IDvIWdFx6Wok9k6K_x62k0Dnwhlq414HFv6r9BoY&amp;fref=nf\" data-hovercard=\"\/ajax\/hovercard\/user.php?id=1331511196&amp;extragetparams=%7B%22hc_ref%22%3A%22ART9MW9HgOHcJAKKbP6vdMOq761IDvIWdFx6Wok9k6K_x62k0Dnwhlq414HFv6r9BoY%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22nf%22%7D\" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show=\"1\" data-hovercard-referer=\"ART9MW9HgOHcJAKKbP6vdMOq761IDvIWdFx6Wok9k6K_x62k0Dnwhlq414HFv6r9BoY\" aria-controls=\"js_18i4\" aria-haspopup=\"true\" aria-describedby=\"js_18i5\">John Wathen<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dH7EhLCM4uw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; color: #993300;\"><strong>Related Articles:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>5-25-2017: Motherboard, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/zmbdy5\/drone-journalist-faces-7-years-in-prison-for-filming-north-dakota-access-pipeline-protests\">Drone Journalist Faces 7 Years in Prison for Filming Dakota Pipeline Protests<\/a>&#8221; by Jason Koebler <span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8211; Aaron Turgeon was arrested by Morton County Police and was charged with a felony count of Reckless Endangerment, a misdemeanor count of Reckless Endangerment, and a misdemeanor count of Physical Obstruction of a Government Function<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>5-25-2017: Bismarck Tribune, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/bismarcktribune.com\/drone-and-cell-phone-footage-lead-to-acquittal-in-protest\/article_6716eb9b-64e9-5cc3-a453-3b5bf517ae89.html\">Drone and cell phone footage lead to acquittal in protest case<\/a>&#8221; by CAROLINE GRUESKIN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>5-26-2017: Water Protector Legal Collective, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/waterprotectorlegal.org\/prolific-rapper-found-not-guilty\/\">Prolific the Rapper Found Not Guilty<\/a>&#8220;<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> &#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Aaron Sean Turgeon, also known as \u2018Prolific the Rapper,\u2019 faced three charges today regarding piloting a\u00a0drone at a NoDapl demonstration site. After 30 minutes of reviewing evidence Surrogate Judge Allan L.\u00a0Schmalenberger, former ND Supreme Court Justice who was hired to oversee some of the water protector cases, returned to the bench to declare Turgeon innocent on all counts stating none of Turgeon\u2019s conduct was reckless or violated the law.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Turgeon was charged with misdemeanor\u00a0reckless endangerment for flying his drone over a crowd of 150 to 200 people. \u00a0Law enforcement claimed Turgeon put them and the people at risk of injury or possible death by his actions. \u00a0Turgeon was also charged with class c felony\u00a0reckless endangerment by law enforcement for operating his drone over 400 feet and within proximity of a<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/\/?page_id=1622\">Highway Patrol aircraft<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">. Another charge Turgeon faced was a misdemeanor physical obstruction of a government function charge after he did not allow law enforcement to seize his drone.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201c<\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Thank you to the water protectors that day who with their cameras formed a circle around me and kept Officer Shannon Hinkie from taking my drone. If it wasn\u2019t for them doing that I wouldn\u2019t have video evidence to prove that I was innocent,<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201d said Turgeon in an online video he posted to Facebook. \u201c<\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\">I also I wanted to thank the judge because he was fair with my case and I want to encourage all of the other judges to start being fair because a lot of the time what you\u2019re being shown by the police officers is not true and I knew it but it\u2019s not about knowing it, it\u2019s about proving it and we proved it today.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Lead counsel and WPLC cooperating<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.parrlawoffice.com\/\">Criminal Defense Attorney Doug Parr<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">from Oklahoma City exclaimed:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201c<span style=\"color: #800000;\">Aside from the fact that we had a very thorough and fair judge in this case which\u00a0made a huge difference, a lot of the basis for the success in the case today was the support of the water protectors and our client Sean\u2019s video evidence that exposed the falsehoods in the state\u2019s case. One of my concerns is that the charges in this case appear to have been\u00a0fabricated to justify the no-fly zone that was imposed in late October of last year.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0That no-fly zone impeded independent media ability to document the conflict between water protectors and law enforcement during late October and early November.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201c<\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Needless to say, I am immensely proud of my client, Mr. Turgeon, who was willing to stand up and speak truth to power in this case. I\u2019m so happy he and his family no longer have this hanging over their heads.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In agreement with Parr, WPLC cooperating attorney Danny Sheehan said: \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\">The police officers were clearly coached by the State\u2019s Attorney to fabricate evidence contrary to the facts by falsifying affidavits on their reports in support of their preliminary hearings. In doing so, this forced water protectors to trial on clearly false charges regarding the flying of drones over demonstration areas and wanting drones to be grounded in support of a no-fly zone order granted by the FFA.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #000000;\"><strong>If Turgeon was found guilty he was facing up to seven years in prison.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201c<\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u2026We need the other judges to be fair we need the records to open up for all of the water protector cases so that they can examine all available video,<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201d said Turgeon.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0With weekly last-minute trial cancellations that water protectors have encountered by the Morton County State\u2019s Attorney Office, along with cases being dismissed and met with new charges unless a plea bargain is taken, the victory today is a refreshing turn of events for water protectors and their attorneys.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\">Back to<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/?page_id=788\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Violations Against Drone Operators<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 Aaron aka &#8220;Prolific The Rapper&#8221; made a name for himself following the release of a uniquely moving music video on Sep 21, 2016: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Earlier that month, on September 6, 2016, \u00a0while flying a drone above Oceti Sakowin Camp, his camcorder-equipped drone used to &#8220;document from the skies&#8221; was taken by Morton &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/?page_id=5687\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Aaron &#8220;Prolific The Rapper&#8221; Turgeon&#8217;s Drone Taken by Sheriff&#8217;s Deputies on 9-6-2016, Found &#8220;Not Guilty&#8221; on 5-26-2017<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":788,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5687","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5687"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6824,"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5687\/revisions\/6824"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/standingrockclassaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}