Jacob Kenison Restitution Project

In the mid to late 90’s Salt Lake was a hotbed for animal rights activism. If you were a part of the hardcore/punk music community you were somehow intertwined with the Vegan Animal Rights component of the scene at that time. True with any form of direct action, unground activism or grassroots organizing, you had many people involved. Unfortunately what so often happens in activist groups, especially with young adults is one activist takes the fall for the group and then will often be used as an “example” for the rest of the group.

Not often do you have an activist rise to the occasion to take the charges and/or the time for the group. However in the Salt Lake animal rights community that lone activist was Jacob Kenison.

Jacob stood solo on the charges for two very publicized cases, where many other activists may not have only participated but the he also took the heat for many other cases that were dismissed for other activists.

This would be the springboard for Jacob to spiral into addiction and behaviors that accompany that lifestyle. He spent well over a decade digging himself out from his demons. He has worked tirelessly to clear his record from his various charges from his past and become a leader in the recovery community while putting himself through school to receive his Bachelors and Masters in Social Work. Jacob is now working on his PHD for Social Work.

This summer he began the expungement process to further clear the wreckage from his past. We were happy to find out that the majority of his charges (11 out of 13) are eligible for expungement due to the extensive self work Jacob has done to repair his past and right his wrongs.

Unfortunately, we were hit with some jarring news during this process. Jacob is not eligible to expunge the two animal rights convictions because he still has substantial restitution assigned to those charges and they must be paid in full on those charges.

Those charges were instituted in the mid to late 90’s. Unfortunately due to the timing of the actions, the governing body elected to tie the two charges together and issue a judgment for the full restitution. Currently the balance is $267,000 (see attached documentation) yet we can attempt a few different appeals to the court with a principal balance caught up which is roughly $120k.

Jacob Kension honorably took the charges on his paper, did the time in federal prison and is still financially responsible for the restitution that was codified as a judgment in the late nineties. These two cases have haunted him and his family for decades now. This has not only prohibited him from securing a safe and affordable place for him and his family to live for many years, it has prohibited him from feeding his family on several occasions, but prohibits him from securing employment, educational opportunities and more.

With these donations we are transferring all funds directly to the Department of Corrections account for the principal. If you would like to make a substantial donation outside of the GoFundMe, please reach out directly to Meg Griggs Orsini.

There will be a variety of fundraising projects to help reach our goal throughout this next year. Please share and ask all the questions. We are happy to share details as requested. If you are interested in helping us raise money to save Jacob and his family from this burden, please reach out to Meg Griggs Orsini, Randy Mordecai, Josh Rudy, Dustin Black or Bob Fenn.