U.S. Department
of Justice
Activists Sentenced in Red Powder Attack on U.S. Constitution at the U.S. Archives and Vandalizing Art at the National Gallery
WASHINGTON – Donald Zepeda, 35, of Maryland, and Jackson Green, 27, of Utah, were sentenced in U.S. District Court to 24 months in prison and 18 months respectively in the February 14, 2024, attack on the U.S. Constitution housed at the National Archives in Washington D.C.
The sentencings, which occurred earlier this month, were announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division.
Zepeda pleaded guilty on August 15 to felony destruction of property for dumping a fine red powder over a display case containing the U.S. Constitution in the Rotunda of the Archives building. The cost of cleaning up after the stunt, which was intended to draw attention to climate change, exceeded $58,000. In addition, the offense closed the Rotunda for four days, preventing students, visitors, and D.C. residents from visiting. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Zepeda to serve 24 months of supervised release, to pay restitution in the amount of $58,600, to complete community service, a portion of which must include cleaning up graffiti, and ordered him to stay out of the District of Columbia and all museums nationwide.
Green also pleaded guilty on August 13 to felony destruction of property for the red powder attack on the U.S. Constitution and, in addition, pleaded guilty to one count of injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit for his November 14, 2023, defacement of a memorial to Black Civil War soldiers, Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial (1900). Green had been charged in the assault on the Shaw Memorial only 13 days before Zepeda joined him in soiling the Archives. In addition to the prison term, Judge Berman Jackson ordered Green to serve 24 months of supervised release, to pay restitution in the amount of $58,600, to complete community service, a portion of which must include cleaning up graffiti, and ordered him to stay out of the District of Columbia and all museums nationwide. In addition to his role in the attack on the Constitution, Zepeda helped organize and filmed the attack on the Shaw memorial. Zepeda was also involved in the April 2023 attack on the display of Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen at the National Gallery of Art.
According to court papers, Zepeda and Green are members of Declare Emergency, a group of activists that purport to raise awareness regarding climate change by engaging in a variety of criminal offenses, primarily in Washington, D.C.
Green (left) and Zepeda posed for photographs on February 14, 2024, after dumping red powder on a display case housing the U.S. Constitution at the National Archives.
Zepeda and Green’s criminal actions predate the attacks on the U.S. Constitution. During the week of April 24, 2023, Zepeda and other members of Declare Emergency orchestrated an escalating series of offenses in Washington, D.C. that included blocking rush hour traffic on April 24, 2023, and April 26, 2023. Zepeda also helped plan and participated in the April 27, 2023, attack on the National Gallery of Art exhibition of Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Zepeda filmed as two group members smeared red and black paint on the case, base, and floor surrounding the exhibit. Zepeda purchased the paint used in the offense one week before the defacement. Zepeda has hosted trainings for individuals who were interested in participating in similar attacks.