Woman Charged In Mining Site Raid Will Likely Plead Guilty

An anti-mining protester charged in the raid of a Gogebic Taconite drilling site over a year ago is expected to plead guilty to felony robbery and misdemeanor damage to property on Friday.

Eau Claire attorney John Bachman expects his client, 27 year-old Katie Kloth of Weston, to enter the pleas at a hearing in Hurley before Price County Circuit Court Judge Douglas Fox. Bachman said Iron County District Attorney Marty Lipske has offered a year in jail as part of the bargain, a sentence he thinks is too harsh for a first time offender.

Bachman said Kloth has two choices: plead guilty, or face a trial next month in which she might be compelled to name the other dozen or so masked raiders who were with her during the June 11, 2013 obscenity-laced protest.

Bachman said if Kloth had given out the names of the other protesters, she’d probably get a lighter sentence. Lipske agreed, though he also said she has not shown any remorse for her threatening remarks or for allegedly stealing a cell phone from a GTAC biologist.

Lipske said this is the only complaint GTAC has filed. If a guilty plea is entered, Bachman says there would be a 60-day investigation before Kloth is sentenced.

Bachman has made a career representing environmental and political protesters such as those from the Crandon Mine and the Navy’s Project ELF submarine communications base, as well as the RNC 8 at the Twin Cities Republican National Convention in 2008.