A Senate committee will vote next week on a bill that would make rioting a felony rather than a misdemeanor when serious damage or injury occurs.
Indianapolis Republican Mike Young’s bill would also let the attorney general file rioting charges instead of local prosecutors, “make it easier to charge people for egging on rioters from the sidelines, and harder for suspects to post bail,” as reported by WIBC’s Eric Berman.
In addition, the bill allows prosecutors to seize the assets of people who finance rioters’ actions.
What is unclear, however, is what specifically differentiates a protest from a riot?
Katz:
“What happens when a protest has been deemed a riot?
“I would argue that while I may not have the legal background to say specifically what makes something a riot, you know it when you see it.
“[The Capitol riot] certainly wasn’t insurrection, and there are a lot of people here in Indiana who have embarrassed themselves by describing it as such.
“Insurrection? In order to make that claim, you would have to define what those rioters were attempting to engage an uprising on? What were they attempting to do, and who are ‘they?’
“My worry? Who gets to decide that a group of people who are engaged in a legitimate protest in which there is yelling and screaming is actually engaged in a riot? Further, if a protest turns into a riot, who can and cannot be charged?
“I’m not in favor of abuses of power or free speech.
“Black Lives Matter is a Marxist organization. Do they have the right to protest? Absolutely. And even for them, I don’t want the law being pushed over the edge to get them to stop.
“So yes, I worry about this.”
WIBC host Tony Katz tackled that question Wednesday morning.
