Thompson Gets Conditional Release

Kanietakeron Larry Thompson was sentenced by St. Lawrence County Judge Jerome J. Richards last week to a one-year conditional discharge and a five-year order of protection that bars him from the former General Motors Powertrain site, which is owned by the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust. The trust had sought $70,000 in damages caused by Thompson, but trust officials were willing to forego restitution in exchange for a deal “to keep him off the property.”

He was originally charged with second-degree criminal mischief, resisting arrest and second-degree reckless endangerment for digging up the site in August 2011. Judge Jerome Richards had previously dismissed charges of resisting arrest and reckless endangerment. Thompson avoided trial by plea bargain. At the sentencing, Thompson did use the 20 minutes he had been promised to speak, and according to the Daily Courier, among other things he said, “he was ‘an original,’ with ‘an original title to this land. Our ancestors’ bones are here. Your ancestors’ bones are across the salt water.’”