Portland Clarinet Player Faces Sentencing, Lawyer Says Feds' Conduct Was Cruel

A 39-year-old clarinet player from Southeast Portland is set to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault of a federal officer during a chaotic scene outside Portland's ICE building last fall, and her attorney is arguing she deserves no further punishment because federal agents subjected her to conduct that was itself gratuitous and cruel. Oriana Korol admitted she kicked her leg toward Federal Protective Service Inspector Carlos Perez, but her lawyer says the government's own case notes she already spent three nights in jail, was pepper-sprayed in the face, and had her chemical-soaked balaclava pulled over her mouth and eyes by a federal agent.

According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Korol will be sentenced at 2 p.m. Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You, the same judge before whom she formally entered her guilty plea on July 23. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew T. Ho is expected to recommend time served alongside one year of federal supervised release, plus a $4,000 fine, arguing the sentence should reflect the seriousness of the defendant's conduct toward a federal officer engaged in official duties. Korol's attorney, Michelle Holman Kerin, is fighting both the supervision term and the fine, arguing no fine is warranted and that the government does not need to supervise her client at all.

What Happened Outside the ICE Building

The confrontation unfolded on October 12, 2025, as federal officers pursued a man they were trying to arrest and entered the area where the Unpresidented Brass Band was performing across the street from Portland's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. Per the same account, that clash coincided with the nearby Emergency World Naked Bike Ride, which had prompted federal officers to push through crowds to clear the facility's driveway around 5 p.m. Korol had been playing with the band for more than an hour, and its members reportedly closed their set with the Ghostbusters theme as their final song, according to the Portland Tribune's background reporting on the group founded by electrical engineer Miles Thompson to bring what he calls joyful resistance to Portland protests.

Officers tackled the man they were pursuing, and a federal agent punched the tackled man in the head with a fist while clutching a cell phone, according to Korol's defense memo. Federal officers also knocked over one of Korol's bandmates in the process. Kerin says Korol never tried to free the arrested man and instead fell forward on top of him because she wanted to ensure she was present if he needed first aid, drawing on her training as a wilderness first responder.

Competing Accounts of the Kick and Alleged Bite

Perez initially reported that Korol had bitten his right arm; the government later alleged instead that she bit his left arm. Kerin disputes that Korol bit Perez at all, and the defense notes that Korol's face mask covered her mouth during the period when the alleged bite occurred. What is not disputed is that Korol struck Perez with her raised right foot, a kick prosecutors say caused Perez reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm. Perez was recorded telling Korol, “You [expletive] bit me in the arm! You [expletive] sorry?” according to court filings cited in the OregonLive report.

The defense also says Perez shoved Korol from behind, shoved her to the ground a second time, shoved her shoulder inside the ICE building, told her to shut up, and shouted expletives at her inside the building. Kerin submitted multiple videos supporting those defense arguments as part of her sentencing memo. Korol will apologize to Perez as part of Tuesday's proceedings, per the same account.

A Mistrial, a Retrial, and a Plea

Korol's case did not resolve quickly. Jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict at her original trial, and U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut declared a mistrial in May after the 12-person federal jury deadlocked over competing video accounts of whether Korol's contact with Perez was an intentional assault or a self-protective reaction, as reported by The Post Millennial. Federal prosecutors retried the case before Korol ultimately pleaded guilty to the single misdemeanor count.

Under 18 U.S.C. § 111, simple assault of a federal officer without physical contact is a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in prison, while assault involving physical contact can be charged as a felony punishable by up to eight years, according to Willamette Week. Korol originally faced felony charges carrying up to eight years before accepting the misdemeanor deal. That outcome tracks a broader pattern: Willamette Week found that federal prosecutors charged 37 protesters in connection with demonstrations outside the South Portland ICE facility between June and November 2025, including 24 accused of assaulting or attempting to assault federal officers, and that although 17 of those defendants originally faced felony charges carrying eight to 20 years in prison, most cases ultimately resolved with short probation terms or minor misdemeanor pleas.

Personal Toll and Pretrial Record

Korol had a 3-year-old child at the time of her arrest and had no criminal history, having never been arrested before this case. She spent three nights in the Clark County Jail in Vancouver and waited roughly 65 hours before her first appearance before a federal magistrate judge, and she reported experiencing a headache and impaired vision for two days after her release. Her attorney's sentencing memo also notes that Korol's social worker's license is now under review by the state as a result of the case, and that she has not violated any conditions of her pretrial release.

Part of a Wider Pattern of Scrutiny

Korol's sentencing lands amid a string of other legal fights tied to the same South Macadam Avenue ICE facility. Hoodline previously reported that protester Milla Leilani Payne filed a $350,000 federal lawsuit alleging Federal Protective Service officers sprayed chemical irritants directly into her face outside the building in October 2025, and that a federal judge separately pressed prosecutors on a trophy photo allegedly taken beside another arrested protester before his sentencing. A Multnomah County jury acquitted a third protester, dubbed the “Bird Lady,” of disorderly conduct and physical contact charges in March after a three-day trial over conflicting video evidence from the same string of October 2025 clashes. Meanwhile, the Portland Hearings Office in July upheld a municipal ruling against the facility's landlord for holding detainees overnight past a 12-hour limit set in 2011, clearing the way for the city to resume enforcement action against the property owner.