David McKay is an activist and artist known for his attempted protest of the

2008 Republican National Convention The 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008. The first day of the Republican Party's convention fell on Labor Day, the last day of the popul ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and subsequent imprisonment based in part on testimony of FBI informant

Brandon Darby Brandon Michael Darby (born November 2, 1976) is an Americans, American conservative blogger and activist. He first became known in the fall of 2005 for actions in New Orleans in efforts to help residents, where he was a co-founder of the Common G ...

. McKay was born in

Midland, Texas Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States. A small part of Midland is in Martin County. At the 2020 census, Midland's population was 132,524. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas metropolitan ...

in 1986. Prior to his attempted protest of the

, McKay was not an active protester. In 2008, McKay and several friends constructed several improvised shields and planned to travel to the convention and use them to block traffic, shield themselves from

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

and bean bag guns, and in general to disrupt the convention. After they traveled to

for the gathering, their shields were seized by police from a

U-Haul U-Haul is an American moving truck, trailer, and self-storage rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen in Ridgefield, Washington, who began it in the garage owned ...

trailer. FBI informant

and the group of 8 protestors, including Bradley Crowder then constructed several firebombs, which McKay alleged was

entrapment Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or agent of the state induces a person to commit a "crime" that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.''Sloane'' (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent provo ...

by Darby. The house where they were staying was raided, the bombs seized, and the group arrested. Darby publicly revealed his role as an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

and testified against the protestors. Crowder entered a plea deal of two years. McKay went to trial. McKay got a hung jury of split 6-6, and was released pending retrial. The day before retrial, McKay tried to take a plea deal of two years imprisonment, where he also had to reverse his original statement that he had been "entrapped" by Brandon Darby. However, on May 21, 2009, U.S. Chief Judge

Michael J. Davis Michael James Davis (born July 21, 1947) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Early life, education, and career Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Davis grew up in Aurora, Illinois. H ...

sentenced McKay to four years in prison, citing an "obstruction of justice" sentencing enhancement and that McKay had not fully accepted responsibility for his own actions. According to the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

manifest, McKay was released from prison on 04-06-12.

References

Film Is Skeptical About Domestic Efforts on Terrorism by Brian Stelter, New York Times, September 4, 2011.

External links

"Better This World"
a documentary from

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

's long-running series

P.O.V. ''POV'' (also written ''P.O.V.'') is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television series which features independent nonfiction films. ''POV'' is an initialism for ''point of view''. ''POV'' is the longest-running showcase on television ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, David 1986 births Living people People from Midland, Texas American political activists Activists from Texas Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government