Judge won't jail Statue of Liberty climber ahead of sentencing

A Manhattan federal magistrate on Friday refused to jail Statue of Liberty climber Patricia Okoumou for violating her bail conditions by getting arrested in another protest of immigration policies while awaiting sentencing.

U.S. Magistrate Gabriel Gorenstein instead ordered electronic monitoring and home detention until her sentencing. 

Okoumou, 45, of Staten Island, was convicted of trespass and interfering with government functions for scaling the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty last July 4 in a protest of Trump administration family separation policies, leading to the evacuation of Liberty Island.

Her sentencing is scheduled for March 19. But she was arrested again last week in Texas for trespassing for scaling a building that belonged to Southwest Key, an organization housing detained immigrant children, and refusing to come down.

Federal prosecutors in New York asked Gorenstein to detain her until she is sentenced as a result of violating a condition of bail that required her to not break any federal state or local law.

She was arrested for trespass by Austin police and released, but has not been convicted.

Okoumou’s lawyers argued that Gorenstein could decide at her sentencing whether her case merits prison, and should not pre-empt that decision based on an accusation of another crime. Outside court Friday, Okoumou said she would go on a hunger strike if jailed.

Prosecutors, in court filings, said the Texas arrest showed she was a danger to the community if she remained free. But Okoumou’s defense team disputed that.

“We will gladly concede that she is a danger to the specific community of Trump administration officials and instruments who profit, politically or otherwise, from the destruction of immigrant families,” lawyer Rhidaya Trivedi wrote. “But a danger to the community at large, Ms. Okoumou is not.”

On Wednesday, Gorenstein visited Liberty Island to view the surroundings as an aid to sentencing. Okoumou was present at the site visit, but didn’t say anything.