Nearly 80 criminal trespass arrests stemming from a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas have been dismissed, a prosecutor said Wednesday, the latest dropped charges against demonstrators arrested on college campuses across the U.S. this spring.
Delia Garza, a Democrat who is the elected attorney for Travis County, said 79 criminal trespass cases that were dismissed all stemmed from the April 29 protest. She said cases involving other offenses remain pending.
Garza said her office determined it couldn’t meet the legal burden to prove the cases beyond a reasonable doubt. She said factors that were considered included whether the protesters’ right to free speech had been violated, whether prosecutors had sufficient evidence to seek a conviction and if pursuing the case was in the interest of justice.
At campuses across the U.S. this spring, demonstrators sparred over the Israel-Hamas war. Texas’ protest and others grew out of Columbia University’s early demonstrations.
Last week, prosecutors in New York announced that dozens of Columbia students who were arrested for occupying a campus building as part of a pro-Palestinian protest would have their criminal charges dropped. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it would not pursue criminal charges for 31 of the 46 people initially arrested on trespassing charges inside the administration building.
On April 29 at UT, officers in riot gear encircled about 100 sitting protesters, dragging or carrying them out one by one amid screams. Another group of demonstrators trapped police and a van full of arrestees between buildings, creating a mass of bodies pushing and shoving. Officers used pepper spray and flash-bang devices to clear the crowd.
https://apnews.com/article/university-of-texas-protest-arrests-dismissed-79fd041085bdab0ad7a9fb3bd51c7d29 