by Travis Mateer
Right before the pandemic, a lot of shit was going down in Missoula, like felony charges for Brandon Bryant for verbally threatening City Council members while a drug dealer, Josh Paniagua, faced ZERO consequences for stabbing Ben Mousso to death in “self defense” over a drug deal gone bad.
Because of the pandemic, Bryant’s trial was postponed until this month. I had no idea it was even going on until it was essentially over. The trial took three days, only three council members testified to being scared, and Bryant was then acquitted of the felony charge of intimidation. Here’s a look at who the scaredy cats are:
Missoula Mayor John Engen told a jury he wasn’t afraid of a man accused of threatening public officials.
Veteran Brandon Bryant landed in jail shortly after he brought a Japanese training sword to a council meeting and criticized a special property tax called TIF.
Prosecutors used that and an edited video of Bryant to charge him with a felony.
We’re told three council members, Bryan von Lossberg, Gwen Jones and Julie Merritt testified they all feared him. But defense attorneys picked at events in their lives that may have triggered their fear.
I wonder what “events” Bryant’s defense attorney found in the lives of our city officials that cast doubt on their fear factor claims?
If I had known about this trial, then I would have attended and reported on what transpired. Was public participation over this use of prosecutorial power denied the public because of the political sensitivities involved?
Luckily for those in power, Missoula citizens don’t seem overly concerned with how their local officials use and abuse their power. I can only assume the degradation of our local media landscape, combined with the ideological blinders that give liberal politicians massive political cover, has rendered our community incapable of seeing the stark contrast between charging a man with a felony for using words while a killer gets no trial for using a knife to kill another human being.
If you think our criminal injustice system is working just fine in Missoula, then, by all means, keep Mayor Engen around for a fifth term.
Or, if you want to send a message to our craven political establishment, please consider voting for ABE (anyone but Engen) in the upcoming September primary.
And remember to tune in to Zoom Town, a podcast I launched back in January to examine the rapid changes occurring in our gentrified valley. There will be A LOT to discuss in this week’s episode, which I’ll be recording with my co-host, Tim Adams, tomorrow.
So stay tuned…