Plea Agreement Reached On Long-Pending Sherman Park Unrest Charges Involving Vaun Mayes

Vaun Mayes. Photo taken April 20th, 2021 by Graham Kilmer.

The long-pending federal criminal case against community activist Vaun Mayes appears to be coming to a close.

On Wednesday, Mayes pled guilty to one of seven charges stemming from the 2016 unrest in Sherman Park that followed the fatal Milwaukee Police Department shooting of Sylville Smith.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22 before Federal Judge Pamela Pepper. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 for the one remaining felony charge, though the plea agreement says both parties will advocate for a sentence of time already served, no fine and no supervised release addition. Pepper will render a final decision.

Mayes, who leads an organization called Community Task Force, has been an outspoken advocate for peace and violence prevention in the years following the Sherman Park incidents. He routinely uses Facebook’s live streaming function to reach an audience of thousands, drawing awareness to issues in Milwaukee.

Live streaming is also connected to the only charge that will stick in the Sherman Park case. He pled guilty Wednesday to the use of a cell phone to encourage others to participate in a riot.

Mayes was a key figure in the 2020 civil rights marches in Milwaukee and, as a result, is one of several figures honored in a large mural painted at N. 14th and W. Vliet streets. He was arrested in June 2020 for being party to the largely unexplained house fire at 40th and Lloyd, a flashpoint in a summer of protests, but was released the next day and never charged with a crime. Mayes, in videos from the day of the fire, could be seen attempting to de-escalate the situation and led a cleanup effort the next day.

In the ensuing years, he has continued to engage in violence prevention programming and worked to find emergency housing for individuals.

But amidst his current activity, the Sherman Park issue has loomed. He’s been outspoken about his belief that the charges prevented his efforts from receiving government funding.

Mayes, 37, was charged in 2018 with attempting to organize a firebombing, with the use of Molotov cocktails, of the Milwaukee Police Department District Seven station at 3626 W. Fond du Lac Ave. and teaching others, including juveniles, how to make the explosive cocktails. He has been free on bond since being charged and the case has been publicly quiet for years, though Mayes has previously told Urban Milwaukee his attorney had been working to resolve the matter. Many documents associated with the case are sealed.

He was additionally charged in 2019 with witness intimidation, for allegedly instructing witnesses to tell a similar, false story, and for using a cell phone to encourage others to riot.

The plea agreement wipes away all of the charges except for the felony use of a cell phone to encourage others to riot.

“I’m okay that many will miss the key points in this whole ordeal,” said Mayes in a Facebook post after appearing in court to plead guilty. “I am okay that some will continue to use this charge I am pleading guilty as their ‘reason’ or validation to keep whatever negative outlook or disposition they have always had with me regardless of having a reason or not. I am NOT okay with, but understand that this will possibly affect opportunities and my livelihood moving forward, but I have had that be the case [for] the past almost decade so I’m not so sure I’m losing anything there that wasn’t there to begin with. I AM okay with my personal growth from 2016 to now. I AM okay with this being a chapter in the ustory of who I am, our experiences and trials make us who we are literally. I AM okay knowing some of my ‘enemies’ have become my friends, and some ‘friends’ have taken their place as ‘enemies.’ I AM okay knowing I have done and will continue to try and mend all broken or fractured relationships to correct narratives on my own terms. I am okay that some folks I stood up for and showed up for won’t be there to do the same for me. I am unapologetically myself. I am unapologetically going to remain a positive and productive person in this society. I am unapologetically going to continue to beat all odds and conquer all obstacles in my life, because I am MEANT to.”

Attorney Robert LeBell is defending Mayes. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Gregory J. Haanstad, who was promoted while the case was ongoing, and assistant attorney general Chris Ladwig are the lead prosecutors on the case.