A San Diego activist who pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor assault count for pulling an HSI agent’s mask off in Linda Vista during an immigration enforcement operation was sentenced Thursday to 45 days of home detention. Jeane Wong, 56, was among a group of people arrested at a Linda Vista a partment complex on July 2, where federal agents had taken a Guatemalan man into custody. A video recorded at the scene captured Wong and others arguing with agents from opposite sides of a stretch of police tape. At one point, an agent put his hands on Wong, and she pulled his mask down. She initially faced a felony assault charge but pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor count earlier this year. Prosecutors had also charged the Guatemalan man and another protester with assault but dismissed both cases. Another protester arrested at the scene remains charged, and her case is pending, with a hearing scheduled for next week. At her sentencing hearing on Thursday in federal court, Wong said the agent grabbed and pushed her just before she pulled his mask off. “I acted in confusion, not malice,” said Wong, who said she was “prepared to take responsibility for that moment.” Her plea agreement states that Wong “struck” the agent in the face, though Wong’s attorney, Hector Tomayo, called any physical contact between Wong and the agent “minimal” and described prosecutors’ accounts of the events as “exaggerated.” The attorney also took issue with statements made by the agent, Matt Hogan, during the hearing. Hogan did not appear in person, but delivered a statement remotely, in which he described the protesters as a “group of privileged, liberal extremists cosplaying as social justice warriors” and said “the only reason (agents) choose to wear masks is to protect their children and families from the actions of deranged lunatics like Ms. Wong.” Tomayo argued those comments showed a “political motive” behind Hogan’s account of the events and were “indicative of his prejudice and his lack of objectivity as to what happened.” Prosecutors had sought a one-year prison sentence, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Evangeline Athena Dech describing the incident as a “deliberate assault” on the agent that “crossed the clear and unmistakable line between expression and criminal conduct.” The prosecutor also alleged Wong had engaged in “assaultive conduct” while on pre-trial release. Among the incidents cited by the prosecutor was one referenced in Wong’s plea agreement, which states that she lent her vehicle to someone else last December for the purpose of following an HSI officer. Another incident was a sit-in protest at San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s office earlier this year, which ended with the arrests of Wong and five others. U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Goddard imposed a sentence just above the 30 days of home confinement sought by Wong’s attorney. The judge said there wasn’t an “excuse for making any contact with an officer,” but credited Wong for her work in activism. “It looks to me like you’ve spent your life trying to help people who have been marginalized or unserved by the institutions in our society, and I definitely appreciate that,” Goddard said. ...read more read less