Will I Abide By A Plea Deal That Torches My First Amendment?

by Travis Mateer

Last week I learned that I had two choices regarding the lawfare against me: I could be right, or I could be smart, but I couldn’t be both. I chose to be smart.

When I wrote this blog post about a political event at Bonner park in support of Palestinians on July 7^th, 2024, I wasn’t thinking about the geographical limitation of my movement imposed on me by a substitute judge the previous August. When I saw the flyer for the event at a grocery store, what I thought about was Rupert, the pro-Israel dude who kept showing up at all the pro-Palestinian events with an Israeli flag and little bullhorn.

Was Rupert a local resident or a provocateur, like the guy during the Occupy Wall Street protest in Missoula who showed up from Oregon and quickly started talking about Jewish conspiracies? That’s what I was wondering as I approached Rupert, chatted him up, then took a picture for my post. I also took a picture of Legos.

When I was given my legal options a few weeks ago, they weren’t great. In my previous case, which dealt with similar dynamics, the slow speed of my departure from the parking lot of a public event helped the city make the case that I knowingly and purposefully violated the order of protection against me because, after being told my petitioner was going to attend the event by someone from the United Way, I didn’t immediately leave.

The items I had displayed for the people attending Missoula’s STATE OF THE COMMUNITY event were items I had removed from the riverbank during an urban camp cleanup, which I organized in response to the arrest of Ryan Tollefson. Why was Ryan arrested? Because the urban campers didn’t like how he cleaned up their disgusting presence on the riverbank, and the confrontation earned Ryan MORE legal trouble, which he had already been dealing with from previous interactions with the law.

Arresting Ryan worked. Despite some enthusiastic support for Ryan from a Facebook group supportive of trash cleanups, the reality of defending oneself from the snaking tentacles of the HIC (Homeless Industrial Complex) is more complicated and difficult than your average citizen has the capacity to understand, let alone help with. With spring almost here, though, I spotted Ryan making a comment about possibly engaging in more trash removal. Good luck with that, Ryan!

For my case there was no defense, I was told by my public defenders, to the violation of being technically within 1,500 feet of my petitioner’s residence. My sleep-deprived state of mind from becoming homeless myself, living in my box truck, had no bearing on the charge against me. Also, the legal pain that would rain down upon me were I to push my right to a jury trial, I was told, would be severe. 

How severe? Well, since my petitioner has generated over 100 pages of documentation on my activities in order to convince the County Attorney’s Office that my citizen journalism has suddenly morphed into a stalking campaign against her, I was told I would be charged with felony stalking and potentially other protective order violations, all felonies, if I said no to the plea offer. Since the previous trial ahead of me had suddenly settled, I had less than 48 hours to make my decision.

One of the conditions of this highly-coerced plea deal, which I will be contesting during sentencing later this month, is the condition I NOT write about United Way, the non-profit I’ve been exposing LONG before meeting and briefly dating my petitioner. 

That’s right, I’ve been writing for YEARS about United Way’s failed leadership of the 10 year plan to end homelessness, and their strange obstruction of citizen-led camp cleanup efforts, and the nexus of Federal PSN money with the Sheriff’s Office, and connections to the Democratic Socialists of America, and how that leads to Zoom meeting narrative control, not to mention the role of the director, Susan Hay Patrick, in helping to groom and launch the political career of Ellie Boldman.

And then there’s the case of Sean Stevenson.

Without rehashing all the details, Sean’s situation might sound like the kind of situation I’m now highly critical of, which is someone coming from another state to use local services, but here’s the sad irony of what I’ve come to understand about Sean’s short time in Montana, and why his situation is actually the kind of situation the homeless services I helped deliver for 7 years (2008-2016) was intended for.

In slang terms, Sean was a “short-timer”, as opposed to the more predominant “lifers” who have, for a variety of reasons, permanently acclimated to their homeless lifestyles. Sean also wasn’t “on paper”, meaning stuck in the cog of the criminal justice system, like I might be after March 28^th. What Sean was doing was showing that, despite his drinking problem, which did persist as he used homeless services, Sean could still maintain employment, impressing his supervisor enough that his supervisor, Scott, did something he doesn’t usually do with his guys, and that was invite Sean out to a Griz football game.

I know this because I talked to Scott, just like I talked to the woman in Denver who helped Sean get into subsidized housing. That woman, Jereen Peterson, worked at the time for United Way. Interesting.

With the recent closure of the Johnson Street Shelter, the issue of homelessness in Missoula is back in the headlines, along with the predictable whining coming from the two socialists on Council (emphasis mine):

Expected or not, not all members of the council were on the same page about the move. Jordan in particular accused the city of making a “huge decision behind closed doors” in a statement to reporters. The decision to end funding for Johnson Street doesn’t require council approval, so there was no public hearing on the matter. 

“A small, select representation of decision makers have quietly done this,” Jordan said. “As a result, there are city councilors whose constituents will be affected by this decision but who had no representation.”

Davis characterized that criticism as evidence of sour grapes rather than failed communication. 

Does Kristen Jordan have sour grapes? I would ask this public figure, but Kristen Jordan is the Councilor who doesn’t seem to understand what SLANDER and DEFAMATION means, so instead of direct communication, I’ll quote Montana Code Annotated before showing the FULL text a supporter of mine received last September about me.

If you can’t read the small print, here’s the language:

Criminal defamation. (1) Defamatory matter is anything that exposes a person or a group, class, or association to hatred, contempt, ridicule, degradation, or disgrace in society or injury to the person’s or its business or occupation.

(2) Whoever, with knowledge of its defamatory character, orally, in writing, or by any other means, including by electronic communication, as defined in 45-8-213, communicates any defamatory matter to a third person without the consent of the person defamed commits the offense of criminal defamation and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 6 months in the county jail or a fine of not more than $500, or both.

And here’s the text making UNTRUE defamatory claims about my conduct toward my petitioner:

Since I don’t have the financial resources to initiate a more vigorous defense of my first amendment rights, my ability to continue doing citizen journalism, which I’ve been doing for 15 years, has never been more tenuous.

If the County Attorney’s Office wants to put me back in jail for exposing the United Way’s role in corrupting the Homeless Industrial Complex that’s fine by me. I was taken to jail last April for doing my work and, like Ryan Tollefson, I’m willing to go BACK to jail in order to highlight how constitutionally retarded Missoula’s judicial system is.

The arrival of spring means Missoula’s summer budget season is slowly approaching and this year it’s going to be ALL HANDS ON DECK for making excuses on why we’re facing a 4 million dollar deficit. Besides scapegoating EVERYONE by themselves, our pathetic leadership will once again ask CITIZENS to foot the bill our city claims they can’t afford. Also, it’s going to be the UNITED WAY gathering this money. Gee, I wonder why this “non-profit” would want to silence a VERY effective critic like myself? (emphasis mine):

“Because of the funding shortfall, it is time to lean into a new vision and a new way in which we are actually serving folks living in that shelter to get them connected to services and housing,” Davis said. “I am incredibly optimistic about this.”

The plan will require $400,000 through nonprofit United Way of Missoula to individually fund the homeless housing options, reconnect people with family or find treatment options.

The goal is to house 30 people per month, starting in April. Davis did not say how much city money could be spent on the housing sprint, and instead directed residents to donate to or volunteer with United Way. 

I hate to break this difficult news to Mayor Davis but it’s hard to claim a NEW VISION exists to “lean into” when you’re relying on the SAME influencers who have overseen the absolute WORSENING of homelessness in this town. This is why I asserted last spring the state of our community is RETARDED!

If you would like to assist me in creating an alternative process I’m tempted to call my RETARDATION REDUCTION PLAN, please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

And, as always, thanks for reading!