Some Charlotte protest cases pending 2 years later, lawyers want charges dropped
Over two dozen people who were arrested in 2020 during more than a week of protests in Charlotte still have criminal cases pending two years later. Many have not yet had first appearances in court and protesters and their attorneys say this delay has cost them housing, jobs and other opportunities.
Their attorneys spoke outside the Mecklenburg District Attorney’s office on Wednesday to demand their charges be dropped.
At least 28 people still have open cases. Some protesters are facing arrest orders for failing to appear at an initial hearing that had been moved dozens of times, Xavier de Janon, one of the attorneys, said. Others have not yet had an initial hearing, he said.
“If someone moved during these two years, there is no way for them to receive notices of new court dates, assuming the court is even sending these,” de Janon said. “And people without first appearances won’t even have an attorney assigned yet, so they are left up in the air, with potential orders of arrest, for old charges.”
The DA’s office said it has been working to address backlogs in cases due to COVID-19 related closures, according to a statement sent to The Charlotte Observer. The office said it will prioritize cases involving property damage, violence, and weapons and that it is unlikely to proceed on many other misdemeanor cases, whether protest-related or not.
Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather began dismissing charges against protesters in 2020, WFAE reported last year.
Of those remaining, many are charged with assault on a government official, property damages and carrying weapons at a “parade,” according to documents provided by one of the attorneys.
Hundreds of protesters marched in uptown Charlotte and across the country following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. Over 200 protesters were arrested during these demonstrations in Charlotte.
A group of protesters sued the city of Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for their tactics during a police ambush on 4th street in uptown. The lawsuit, which has since been dropped, said police orchestrated trapping the 400 mostly-peaceful protesters and closed off part of the street before pelting them with pepper balls and stinger grenades while officers perched on a parking deck fired chemical munitions from above, the Observer previously reported. CMPD has since banned the use of tear gas against protesters.
A State Bureau of Investigation review of police tactics found there were two possible exits during the 4th street ambush. However, the report acknowledged that smoke blocked these exits.
More than two years later, the four attorneys representing protesters with outstanding cases say they’re outraged at delays. In some cases, according de Janon, potential prosecution lacks sufficient evidence and there are no cooresponding police reports. He and others want the DA to provide restitution to those involved. CMPD did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawyer’s claim that some arrested have no related police report.
“Their trials have been neither quick nor speedy, and many people have lost housing, work, and relationships,” the attorneys said in a statement ahead of Wednesday news conference. “The city can never repair the trauma of unjustly caging its own citizens for fighting for liberation. But the District Attorney’s Office now has a responsibility to mitigate the harm it has caused.”
Attorneys Tim Emry, Habekah Cannon and Dominique Camm are among those lawyers representing protesters.
Melissa Buck was a law student at the time of her arrest during the protest. She was arrested along with over 40 others at a jail support station outside of the uptown facility. She says because of the arrest she was prohibited from becoming a licensed attorney in North Carolina.
“I didn’t want to start looking for jobs or opportunities because how am I going to relocate and apply for housing and have somebody check my background and have these charges pending,” Buck said. “I know I’m not the only person that has been going through this.”
Her charges were dismissed in May and she has since obtained her license. She said the charges against other protesters should be dropped as well.
“The harm done to these folks from being arrested and having pending charges is too much as it is,” Emry said. Emry lost to Merriweather in the May district attorney primary.
“We have had clients who have lost jobs, lost housing, all because of being accused of crimes without being convicted. So I call on my former opponent to do the right thing: dismiss the charges and allow the healing to begin.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
