A pair of climate activists Those who vandalized the National Archives Rotunda in February when they threw red powder at the compound that protects the US Constitution have known their fate.
Donald Zapida, 35, of Maryland, and Jackson Green, 27, of Utah, were sentenced on February 14, 2024, to 24 months and 18 months in prison, respectively, for assaulting the US Constitution. National Archives in Washington DCU.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Acting Special Agent in Charge David Guest of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division announced Monday.
Zepeda pleaded guilty Aug. 15 to felony destruction of property. To throw a fine red powder On a display case containing the U.S. Constitution in the rotunda of the Archives building.
The cleanup cost after the stunt, which was intended to draw attention to climate change, exceeded $58,000, officials said.
Donald Zepeda, 35, of Maryland, and Jackson Green, 27, of Utah, were indicted on Feb. 14, 2024, at the National Archives for assault on the U.S. Constitution. The charges resulted in sentences of 24 months and 18 months in prison, respectively, in US District Court. Washington DC (United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia)
The vandalism also closed the Rotunda for four days, preventing students, visitors and D.C. residents from entering.
Green also pleaded guilty on August 13. Serious destruction of property for the red powder attack on the U.S. Constitution and, in addition, for one count of injury to the National Gallery of Art exhibit for November 14, 2023, for the crime of defacing a monument to Augustus Saint Gaudens, a black Civil War soldier. Admitted. Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial (1900).
Zepeda and Green were also ordered to serve 24 months of supervised release and to pay $58,600 each. He was also ordered to perform community service, including cleaning up graffiti. Both were banned from DC and all museums across the US.
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Green (left) and Zepeda (right) pose for photos after dumping red powder on a display case of the U.S. Constitution at the National Archives on February 14, 2024. (United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia)
Green was charged with the attack on the Shaw Memorial just 13 days before Zepeda was joined in the archives’ breakdown.
According to court documents, Zepeda and Green are members of Declare Emergency, an activist group that claims to raise awareness about climate change by engaging in a variety of criminal acts, primarily in DC.
Zepeda (left) and Green (right) are photographed covered in red powder after the attack on the US Constitution at the National Archives in Washington, DC. (United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia)
During the Valentine’s Day stunt, the group retweeted footage of the Rotunda, writing: “We don’t want the end of civilization, but this is the path we’re on right now.”
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The group previously wrote to “declare an emergency of nonviolent civil disobedience to show love in action every day, not just on Valentine’s Day.”
The group issued a statement After the sentencing, he said he expected the sentence to be “harsh”.
“Despite the lack of evidence that any damage was done, both Green and Zepeda were charged with destroying government property,” the group wrote in a statement on its website. “Tempera paint powder was chosen because it wouldn’t cause any damage, and no powder actually got into the case.”