COLDWATER, MI (WTVB)- One of two men involved in pepper spraying individuals on Monroe Street back in February was sentenced Monday.
Branch County Prosecutor Zach Stempien says 24-year-old James Ryall was sentenced to four months in jail with credit for four months of time served and ordered two serve two years probation after pleading guilty to one count of Felonious Assault in August.
The charges in this case arose out of a complaint of two men pepper spraying individuals on Monroe Street, on February 8, 2025. Video of the incident showed two men wearing mask and dark clothing recording individuals on Monroe Street and inside restaurants.
During the course of the evening, two patrons from Jim’s Place exited the establishment and were met by the Defendants. A small confrontation occurred which concluded with Defendant spraying both patrons with a chemical spray believed by officers to be pepper spray.
Thereafter police arrived and placed Ryall and 20-year-0ld Dakota McDaniel into custody.
It should be noted that the McDaniel is still a waiting trial and remains presumed innocent until otherwise proven guilty.
A fair sentence!
A sad day for The Constitution. What constituted the episode outside of Jim’s Place that “concluded with a chemical spray for both patrons”?
Was there any unwanted touching of a citizen exercising multiple Constitutional rights by these patrons, which would be battery? And are we prohibited or are we permitted to defend ourselves when we are being assaulted and battered?
Felonious!? My goodness, mister Ryall. I think you might regret your decision to have plead no contest when Dakota goes to trial… if the Constitution means anything to the members of the jury if he goes to trial, that is.
Have either of you been watching 1st amendment auditiors? How about the real news network? They advocate for citizens whose Constitutional rights have been violated. Even though ultimately you may have presumptively waived those rights by pleading no contest, the fact that you plead no contest, and not “guilty”, might allow an attorney to more effectively (and competently, IMO) advise and better defend you and likely successfully appeal your conviction.
If someone is on the sidewalk recording video, this is an exercise of a right that The Constitution specifically prohibits our government from turning into a crime. Being free to exist in public, and interact with patrons even if they are hostile and commit crimes like causing you to reasonably anticipate imminent danger to your self, the. as long as you are not committing a crime, and to record video that you intend to inform the public with (an expression as a member of the press), AND being given the opportunity to redress a grievance with the government for violating your rights. (By arresting YOU and not the hostile assaultive patrons who committed battery if they touched you), and for charging you with assault when you did not commit assault or battery because you were lawfully responding to being battered. A situation that could quickly have grown to become a mobbing had you not taken the action you did, which was you refusing to just allow yourself to be assaulted. By people apparently so scared of a couple guys, in public, using cameras, and wearing masks, that THEY would somehow convince a prosecutor that it was they who were assaulted, and they should be permitted to use physical means to stop you from causing them imminent harm. (Because MASKS and CAMERAS?!)
What a travesty that We seem to have forgotten what our rights are. It causes virtue signaling mobs to form, and the cause quintessentially criminal harm to others because they were in literally no danger. That our judicial leaders believe the patrons were in imminent danger to the extent that FELONY conviction of one who actually legally defended himself against the two who likely actually had assaulted and battered him.
Talk about a travesty of justice! We have got to do better than this. Otherwise We, The People, have dealt a coup de gras to our Nation that we’re trying to make great again. How about we ensure that it EXISTS first before we accidentally turn it into the opposite of a free nation. We can call it whatever the heck we want, and if you look at what the citizens must do in order to preserve (hell, resurrect!) our nation, then this cannot be the judicial outcome. By failing to even understand what our rights are, let alone what constitutes a rights violation, were bequeathing our very real power as Citizens to invoke our rights in order to prevent what otherwise is, by definition, TYRANNY.
Should the two patrons have had criminal charges? I think a little sauce to the ol peepers was part of a complete service of justice. Because it stopped the attack, and caused the attacking patrons to ask for help by calling law enforcement. And in a world where competent policing is the norm, actual investigation occurrs that could guide officers to more accurately identify the actual probable cause to believe that criminality was afoot. And per officer discretion they could decide that a peeper sauce spraying was an appropriate response that caused the aggressors to immediately return to behaving in a lawful manner. A true service of justice, had the officers accurately identified to the patrons the true criminal behavior that had occurred, and had noticed that their job now only involved a little public teaching about what our rights are and what you’re not allowed to do in order to prevent someone else from doing what is not allowed to defined as a crime by the government (because the Constitution prohibits the government from criminalizing it).
If we want to amend the Constitution, then there is a process for that. I’m fairly sure that if we just started to go down the path that leads to amending the constitution to remove the protection for free press and free speech, it would very soon become apparent that we don’t really want to make such a foolish amendment. To give our government back the power to censor speech and regulate the press, and allow ourselves to be punished for behaving entirely lawfully, is per se a death blow to the very existence of The United States of America as it has existed according to the documents that established it as the lawful and legitimate government of The USA. What in the hell are we making great again!?
A completely bloodless revolution can occur.
All We need to do is use critical thinking and understand that WE have roles when it comes to serving and protecting The Constitution of The United States of America… from ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. An oath we all took by merely having been born a citizen of The United States. I mean, IF we want exercise our duty and, with due diligence, keep ourselves and our dear leaders on the right track.
It’s spelled right out for us.