Video, Brannigan Facebook Posts Focus of Criminal Trespass Trial

PALOS HILLS, IL — A security officer from a private firm hired to provide crowd control at Palos Township's monthly board meetings testified how he waited for a nod from board members before approaching protestors during a rowdy board meeting at Monday’s criminal trespassing trial of five community activists.

Muhammad Sakari, 31, and Husam Marajda, 28, both of Chicago, Samar Alhato, 22, of Worth, along with Bassem S. Karver, 30, of Tinley Park, and Tammy J. Georgiou, 50, of Palos Hills are each facing a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing over claims they ignored requests to sit down and be quiet during a Palos Township board meeting on June 10, 2019.

The defendants’ pro bono attorney, James Fennerty, argued that the five activists weren’t given proper notice to leave the meeting.

For over two years, community members and protestors have shut down the Palos Township Board’s monthly meetings demanding the resignation of Tr. Sharon Brannigan over anti-Muslim comments she made on social media. Brannigan has apologized for her "poorly crafted words."

Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Erica Boornstein and Fennerty both passed making opening statements. The five activists opted for a bench trial before Cook County Associate Judge Margaret Ogarek. If convicted, they face sentences ranging from probation and fines to up to 364 days in Cook County Jail.

Frank Esposito, a former police officer and owner of Professional Protection Specialists, testified how his firm had been hired to provide crowd control at the Palos Township board meeting on June 10, 2019. Esposito said that a large gathering had already assembled outside the Palos Township office at 10802 S. Roberts Road in Palos Hills when he and his officers arrived.

“Prior to the meeting, I told the officers that we wouldn’t go ‘hands on,’” Esposito told the assistant state’s attorney.

As the meeting grew louder and more boisterous, Esposito said he addressed the sergeant at arms, who indicated which individuals were standing up.

“The board gave us the nod, because [the audience was] creating a riotous situation,” Esposito said. “We feared it would become a riot. The board members were trying to speak and quiet down the audience.”

Much of Monday’s testimony consisted of playing a video of the meeting recorded by Palos Township security cameras. When the meeting started, Supervisor Colleen Grant Schumann can be heard off camera instructing the audience to refrain from making personal attacks and to exercise decorum. As the audience started chanting and yelling during the public comments portion of the meeting, she ordered audience members to “sit down or you will be asked to leave.”

Another security firm member, Todd Damasky, also viewed the cacophonous video, in which audience members could be heard chanting “Brannigan lies” and “racist.” Damasky said he did not speak to the defendants nor did he ask anyone to leave.

“I stood my position to make sure no one got assaulted,” Damasky said. “People were yelling and screaming their opinions. The board could not conduct the community’s business. It was very disruptive.”

When Palos Hills police arrived, the video showed the activists leaving the meeting voluntarily. Once outside the building, the activists were arrested and handcuffed.

Upon cross-examination by the activists’ attorney, Esposito said that he heard Damasky order the defendants to leave, or face arrest; Damasky claimed he heard Esposito give the orders.

Testifying in a barely audible voice, Brannigan told the assistant state's attorney that she was elected in 2013 as a Palos Township trustee. Asked why community members showed up every month at the township board meetings, Brannigan replied: “To protest me. They didn’t like posts I made on my personal Facebook page about [the Clint Eastwood movie] 'American Sniper,' undocumented immigrants, Melania [Trump]. They chant, they holler out.”

Prior to June 10, 2019, Brannigan claimed she had never seen the defendants before until that evening. She identified each by name for the court. As the meeting grew more raucous, Brannigan said she looked to other board members to see if they were in agreement.

“It became very loud. It was chaos,” Brannigan testified. “I looked to the other board members who nodded and I called 911.”

Fennerty asked to read Brannigan's Facebook posts that sparked the 2 ½- year protest. The assistant state’s attorney objected.

“I don’t think the words are relevant to whether a trespass occurred,” Boornstein said

“This goes to [Brannigan’s] credibility as a witness,” Fennerty said. “She has a bias against my clients.”

Brannigan confirmed that she wrote the posts: “They could care less about the color of our skin, and that includes Barack Hussein Obama’s. They want us dead because we are Christians and they see us as infidels and that is the reality of it. Like it or not.”

Fennerty also asked Brannigan about the group Act for America, said to be the largest anti-Muslim extremist group in the United States, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Protestors have complained that Brannigan invited Act for America members to the Palos Township Board meetings

“I have heard about it,” she stated. “I didn’t know about Act for America.”

Judge Ogarek said she would make her ruling on April 28.

Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American Action Network issued a statement after the trial, claiming the prosecution’s witnesses said “contradictory things.”

“Brannigan is a bold-faced liar, claiming that she didn’t know any of the arrested protestors," Abudayyeh said. "Her testimony was great for our defendants.”