Activist sentenced to three months for disrupting Shasta County board meeting, released with ankle monitor

Today in court, defense attorney Michael Borges asked a Shasta County judge to consider giving his client, Jenny O’Connell-Nowain, something less than the maximum allowable jail term for her crime of disrupting a public meeting. 

Under the law, O’Connell-Nowain could have been sentenced to up to six months, a term Judge Thomas L. Bender, a visiting judge from Madeira County, seemed likely to hand down during her last hearing two weeks ago. The judge reconsidered that sentence today after Borges noted that O’Connell-Nowain has no criminal history.

The local woman was convicted by a jury last month. In November 2024, she approached supervisors during a county board meeting and briefly interrupted statements by Patrick Jones, a former supervisor. When told to sit down, O’Connell-Nowain sat on the floor, holding up a political sign. She was arrested soon after in a darkened chamber after board Chair Kevin Crye had cleared the room. 

Today, Bender sentenced O’Connell-Nowain to 90 days incarceration. She was taken into custody in the courtroom for transfer to the Shasta County Jail. There, O’Connell-Nowain said she was processed at the main jail before being transferred to another building for alternative custody processing. She was then given an ankle monitor, she said, and told not to leave her house for any reason until March 6 when she should return to have her monitor removed. 

She spoke to Shasta Scout by phone around 6 p.m. saying she was not informed why the change to alternative custody had occurred. She said she’s still adjusting to the change in plans after preparing for a months-long sentence, but laughed as she wagered that she’ll be doing lots of dishes and laundry over the next few months.

Shasta Scout is pending a response from the Shasta County Sheriff in regards to her custody changes.

Here’s what happened in court today 

Judge Bender seemed to have forgotten key details of the case during his conversation with defense attorney Borges today, asking for a reminder on what O’Connell-Nowain had done in November 2024, and what her intentions were. 

Borges explained that his client was speaking up on behalf of a county employee who was being publicly dressed down by the supervisor during the meeting and was not present to defend herself. He was referring to Joanna Francescut, who was at the time the county’s assistant registrar of voters and is now running to become the county’s chief election official. 

The judge asked if O’Connell-Nowain had tried other means of communicating her concerns, including public comment, to which Borges attested that she gives public comment almost every week at the county board meetings. 

“So what was she trying to achieve?” the judge asked. Borges responded that she wanted to be sure that Jones’ comments about Francescut that day did not go unopposed, explaining that her sign had read, “Jones sits on a throne of lies.” 

From her seat next to Borges at the bench, O’Connell-Nowain flashed a brief grin.

Borges continued to explain to the judge that his client’s belief is that her speech that day was protected First Amendment speech, prompting the judge to ask Borges if he agreed with his client. 

“If the court is asking for my personal opinion,” Borges said, “yes, I do.”

Borges added that while the county board is allowed to have rules regarding conduct, they must be enforced equally regardless of viewpoint, something he doesn’t believe has happened in the past. Without equal enforcement, Borges said, county board chamber rules could be used to discriminate against viewpoints, something the First Amendment does not allow. 

Judge Bender responded by asking prosecutor Emily Mees what her thoughts were on sentencing. 

Mees said that O’Connell-Nowain hadn’t taken responsibility for her actions and seemed unrepentant for, in her words, “stopping the meeting cold.” Recounting O’Connell-Nowain’s remarks after her conviction about being willing to face arrest again, Mees said, “that doesn’t inspire trust that she will follow the rules.”

At her last hearing, O’Connell-Nowain was offered probation in lieu of jail time but refused to accept the terms, which would have required her to follow all the rules of the county board room as administered by county supervisors, something she said she could not agree to while still protecting her First Amendment rights. 

Bender eventually sentenced O’Connell-Nowain to three months in jail minus the single day she’s already served. 

He also admonished her. 

“You’re not being punished for your views,” Bender said, “you’re being punished for your conduct. I think you’re being selfish. The board is just trying to conduct county business.”

O’Connell-Nowain was handcuffed moments later and accompanied from the court room by two bailiffs amid a chorus of calls of “love you” from the courtroom crowd, which included her parents. Her husband, Nowain, briefly flashed a raised fist as she passed through the doorway, catching a smile from her in response as she disappeared from view. 

“I’m very, very proud of her,” Nowain told the media after the hearing. “She has never once wavered on this.”

Nowain explained that his wife, who he’s been married to for 13 years, is from a family of rabble rousers and has been studying revolution since childhood. He said her heroes include Mahatma Gandhi, John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr.

“She’s built for this,” Nowain emphasized. He said didn’t hold it against the judge for admonishing his wife for her behavior, saying Bender is not from the county and simply doesn’t understand the intense political environment of Shasta County. Like his wife, Nowain has also been arrested for allegedly disrupting a county board meeting. His arrest came just a few weeks ago, after he called out from the floor twice during a meeting.

As Nowain exited the Shasta County Superior Court, he caught sight of one of his wife’s supporters standing in the middle of the crosswalk between the courthouse and the county administrative office holding two cardboard signs. One side of the signs read, “Fuck” and “Kevin Crye,” naming the county supervisor who halted the meeting while O’Connell-Nowain sat on the floor. From the other side the signs read, “Fuck” and “ Patrick Jones,” referencing the supervisor whose remarks she had been protesting that day.

Asked by Shasta Scout why he was holding the signs, the protester responded without turning around: “It’s them that are responsible for what happened to her today, the whole chain of events.”

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