Prosecutors in Baton Rouge have decided to drop charges in about 100 cases involving protesters arrested for obstruction of a roadway or public passage. District Attorney Hillar C. Moore III of East Baton Rouge reviewed the arrests ranging from July 8 and July 11. In a statement, he announced only four protesters remained in jail due to other factors.
According to Louisiana law, first-time offenders are entitled to have misdemeanor arrests expunged from their state record, pending no other arrests or convictions.
Ieshia Evans, the woman in the iconic photo captured in the protests and DeRay Mckesson are among the individuals who charges were dropped.
Mckesson a prominent Black Lives Matter figure, founded and leads We the Protesters, a group that advocates policy changes to stem police violence. McKesson was arrested on one count of obstruction of a highway, a misdemeanor, as he was walking along Baton Rouge’s Airline Highway.
The entire ordeal surrounding DeRay’s arrest along with other demonstrators was discussed heavily across Black Twitter as the community banded together to help allocate resources, call the jail and round up lawyers who could potentially offer services. After being released Mckesson and others arrested requested relief in the form of the charges being dropped by the Baton Rouge DA’s office.
“It is clear that the District Attorney understood that the arrest was unlawful and dropped the charges accordingly,” Mckesson told The Baltimore Sun.
His attorney, Roy Rodney Jr. is also pleased with the outcome.
“This is exactly the relief we had requested from the district attorney and the relief we had expected,” Rodney said. “So I’m glad to see that the DA conducted a rational review of the facts of this case, because Mr. Mckesson had done nothing wrong. He has not violated the law, nor had he disobeyed any police officers.”
Even though we already celebrated with a #derayhasbeenreleasedparty, we are still glad to see that in the end, the DA’s office did what was right as protesters exercised their legal rights.
