Trump's War on Protesters and the Press Rages On
On Thursday, federal prosecutors in Washington, DC dropped charges against 129 of the 188 people facing rioting charges during protests of Donald Trump’s inauguration last January. The decision comes after a jury found all six of the defendants in the first round of trials not guilty on all charges on Dec. 21.
“The U.S. Attorney has essentially admitted it never had the evidence to charge these innocent people in the first place, and we’re gratified to see they’ve come to their senses,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. “For a full year, the government’s abusive prosecution has upended the lives of these defendants, who’ve endured the anxiety of multiple court hearings and suffered disruptions to their educations or careers while facing the prospect of more than 60 years in prison.”
The government’s notice of intent to proceed lists three reasons for the continued prosecution of the 59 defendants named: those who engaged in acts of destruction or violence, planned the destruction and violence, or used black-bloc tactics. In doing so, it seems to acknowledge that there was never a strong case against the 129 people, all of whom have spent the last year looking at the possibility of spending the rest of their lives in jail.
“By that justification as written, it doesn’t make any sense for me to be one of the people they are focusing on. But it has never made any sense to be focusing on any of us,” said Elizabeth Lagesse, one of the defendants in the case who is also part of an ACLU civil suit against D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department and a number of individual officers who, they claim, violated civil rights or engaged in violence while on duty that day.
Read more: http://flagpole.com/news/democracy-in-crisis/2018/01/24/trump-2
