Protest Campaign update: Felony Trial, 10-2 to acquit, Hung jury & Dismissal!

Dismantle has been quiet publicly preparing for felony trials. The first protest trial started in early August with Sade’ Smith as counsel. Our client was charged with an assault 3 against an officer, after a violent unnecessary & non-mandatory arrest at a protest in August 2020. Our client suffered head injuries as a result of the violent arrest by police, after attempting to help provide protection for other protesters. The officer claimed he was intentionally kicked in the head by our client after our client attempted to flee. Much of the trial involved uncovering that SPD initiated & escalated violence with protesters. SPD initially blamed the escalation on protesters. In direct violation of SPD’s own policies they violently corralled protesters, limited their path of egress, chased them with sticks and riot gear down a small alley, used OC spray, and orchestrated efforts to have officers report injuries to make their arresting so many protesters look better in court.

The entire trial spanned 3 weeks, with pretrial motions, jury selection, 2.5 days of testimony, closing, and deliberations. There were days off in between. At trial 3 SPD officers testified, Officer Backman, Detective Carson, and Sgt. Hanley. A number of blaring inconsistencies were uncovered in Officer Backman & Sgt. Hanley’s testimony. The jury deliberated for 2 full days. They were unable to come to a unanimous decision, with 10 voting to acquit, & 2 voting to convict. 1 of the jurors on the ‘to convict’ side was more on the fence. The jury overwhelmingly had doubts the kicks were intentional. Defense argued the contact was unintentional, as our client had been blinded by pepper spray after a violent unnecessary arrest, and his prescription eyewear had been involuntarily removed. Since no decision was made the court ruled a mistrial & the State had to make a decision whether or not to retry the case. Days later we were notified the State was not going to retry the case. The dismissed in the interest of justice.
Our client is a free person. They’re no longer under threat of a felony conviction (which holds 45,000 collateral consequences), or imprisonment.

Thank you for all the support!

Link to Seattle Times article accusing client. The times has not run a story demonstrating the case was dismissed:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/protester-accused-of-repeatedly-kicking-seattle-police-sergeant-in-the-face-charged-with-assault/