Four Tucson activists were found guilty of criminal trespassing Tuesday, but left the courthouse with little more than six months' probation and no regrets.

The four are members of "Good Trouble," a local protest group that blockaded the entrance to a Jim Click Kia dealership in September to protest Rep. Juan Ciscomani and the Trump administration.

They targeted the dealership because Click has donated more than $700,000 to Ciscomani, according to the group, and were among eight protesters, dubbed "the Jim Click 8," charged with criminal trespassing following the blockade.

The defendants — Cara Bissell, Patrick Diehl, Hunter Smith and James Driscoll — were greeted at Tucson City Court on Tuesday morning by a crowd of about 70 protesters. The group chanted phrases including "Don't buy a car from Jim Click" and "Protect the First Amendment" before filing inside the courthouse.

Driscoll said in an email sent before Tuesday's hearing that without financial backing from people like Jim Click, Ciscomani would not be able to "rubber stamp" the Trump administration's agenda, saying he would not have won his 2024 election without campaign donations.

"History shows that meaningful change in the United States — and around the world — has always required nonviolent civil disobedience and disruption," Driscoll said. "From the Boston Tea Party to union sit-downs in the 1930s, from women's suffrage to LGBTQ+ rights, progress has come when ordinary people are willing to break unjust rules and speak to the public with our actions."

Prosecutors sought a lifetime ban from the dealership for all members of the blockade, despite no violence or injuries occurring during the protest. Attorneys for the defense asked Judge Geraldine Hale to show leniency, saying the defendants had not knowingly intended to trespass.

"I consider Mr. Click to be one of the local oligarchs," Diehl said during his testimony, blaming Click for many of the problems plaguing the region. "This is what Click has done to our community."

Diehl pointed to a man in the gallery, accusing him of telling a driver to run protesters over during the September blockade.

Hale struck the statement from the record, telling Diehl he was out of order.

Bissell, founder of Veterans for Peace, called the Trump administration's actions "damning to the entire country" and pleaded for the judge to find her not guilty, calling it an appeal to democratic morality.

"Tucson has a tradition of outspokenness," Bissell said. "Tucsonans don't agree on everything, but they should agree on this."

Driscoll took a more forward-looking approach to his final statement, noting that the case felt like small potatoes.

"What's going on, meanwhile, is a big picture game. There will be more and more people like us coming before you," Driscoll said, addressing the judge.

Since none of the defendants disputed being on Click's property, and with all evidence corroborating the prosecution's case, Hale found them guilty and sentenced them to six months' probation and a six-month ban from Jim Click properties.

She commended them for exercising their constitutional rights but reminded them of the laws surrounding criminal trespassing.

"There's nothing to punish," Hale said.

Driscoll and others celebrated the outcome at a post-hearing news conference outside the court.

"The judge let us off easy," he said.

Quentin Agnello is a University of Arizona alum and freelance journalist in Tucson. Contact him at qsagnello@gmail.com.

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