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.
News with a little more humanity
WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.
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.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
