A clarinetist in a Portland political-protest band who was accused of kicking and biting a federal officer across from the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building last fall pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault Thursday, two months after a jury failed to reach a verdict on a felony charge.
Oriana Korol, 39, entered a guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge of assault of a federal officer before U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You.
Korol admitted that on Oct. 12 she kicked her legs toward a Federal Protective Service inspector, causing him “reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm” as he tried to help other officers make a separate arrest, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn A. Rykken.
Under the plea deal, Korol is anticipated to face a sentence of time served, accounting for the three nights she spent in jail, with one year of federal supervised release. She’ll also be ordered to stay away from the ICE building in Portland’s South Waterfront neighborhood.
She accepted the plea deal after federal prosecutors indicated they intended to retry the federal assault charge.
Korol, a clinical family therapist and mother of a 3-year-old, had been playing clarinet with the Unpresidented Brass Band moments before her Oct. 12 arrest. Federal officers chased a man who had barreled into the band, which was standing across the street from the ICE building. It was about 5 p.m., the Emergency World Naked Bike Ride had just ridden past, and the band was playing its last song, the theme from “Ghostbusters.”
Prosecutors said Korol “crossed the line” by attempting to interfere with the man’s arrest, pointing to video that showed her hand touch an officer’s uniform and another officer’s ballistic vest amid the scrum on the sidewalk across the street.
Prosecutors during her trial played footage that showed Korol being knocked to the ground, lying on her back and then lifting her right leg and extending it toward Federal Protective Service inspector Carlos Perez, who stood in front of her.
Perez testified at the felony trial in May that he tried to keep Korol away from the officers attempting to arrest the man, later identified as Marcus Martinez, but after she fell, she kicked him. Then once he got on top of her to arrest her, she bit him on the forearm, he testified.
Korol, at trial, denied she ever kicked or bit Perez and said Perez had pushed her to the ground. Once on the ground, she said she moved her legs to try to turn over and stand back up.
She was represented at trial by attorney Bear Wilner-Nugent; defense attorney Joanna T. Perini-Abbott represented her Thursday.
Korol testified in May that she went to the protest outside the ICE building to play in the band and never intended to harm anyone.
A sentencing date is expected to be scheduled soon.
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