Statue Of Liberty Climber Found Guilty In Protest Trial

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — The Staten Island activist who climbed the Statue of Liberty to protest President Donald Trump's immigration policies was found guilty of three federal crimes on Monday. A U.S. magistrate judge convicted Therese Patricia Okoumou of trespassing, interference with government agency functions and disorderly conduct after a fairly brief trial in Manhattan.

Okoumou was charged with the misdemeanors after she climbed Lady Liberty's base on July 4 to decry the Trump administration's separation of immigrant families. Prosecutors said she forced law enforcement officials to retrieve her and put police officers' lives in danger.

"The act of climbing the base of the Statue of Liberty went well beyond peaceable protest, a right we certainly respect," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. "It was a crime that put people at grave risk."

Okoumou is set to be sentenced March 5. She faces up to six months in prison for each charge.

Flanked by supporters outside the courthouse Monday, Okoumou called for activists to keep up the fight against the widely condemned policy that motivated her protest.

"Our children are watching, our children are listening, and the world is laughing at us," she said, according to video from the scene. "Enough of that embarrassment."

A naturalized U.S. citizen who immigrated from the Republic of Congo, Okoumou embraced the public spotlight and used it to further criticize Trump.

She wore outfits to court lampooning the president and first lady Melania Trump, and once sang a profane song rebuking the "fascist USA" for gathered reporters.

Michael Avenatti, the brash attorney best known for representing the porn star Stormy Daniels, joined Okoumou's legal team less than two weeks before her trial, raising the case's profile even higher.

Okoumou "stood on principle as opposed to the law when standing up to Trump’s draconian separation policy," Avenatti tweeted Monday after the verdict came down. "History will be kind to her."

Avenatti also said Okoumou's leading lawyers, Ron Kuby and Rhiya Trivedi, "did a very good job in a very difficult trial."

(Lead image: Therese Patricia Okoumou is seen at a protest on Oct. 28, 2018. Photo by Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)