An Iowa jury has acquitted a journalist who was pepper-sprayed and arrested by police whereas masking a protest in a case that critics have derided as an assault on press freedom and an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.
After deliberating for lower than two hours, the six-member jury on Wednesday unanimously discovered Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri not responsible on misdemeanour fees of failure to disperse and interference with official acts.
The jury additionally acquitted her former boyfriend, Spenser Robnett, of the identical fees after a three-day trial in Des Moines.
Acquitted.
(Picture credit score: Ted Nieters/Polaris Photographs) pic.twitter.com/sUkjJHQ4gg
— Andrea Might Sahouri (@andreamsahouri) March 10, 2021
The decision is an embarrassing end result for the workplace of Polk County Legal professional John Sarcone, which pursued the fees regardless of widespread condemnation from advocates for a free press and human rights.
These advocates, starting from Sahouri’s bosses on the Register to Amnesty Worldwide, argued that Sahouri was wrongly arrested whereas doing her job by masking racial injustice protests in Des Moines final Might.
Denise Bell, a researcher at Amnesty Worldwide USA, stated in a press release delivered to Al Jazeera the advocacy group is “extremely relieved and heartened to study that Andrea Sahouri has been discovered not responsible of the bogus fees levied in opposition to her.
“Reporting at a protest as a working member of the media shouldn’t be a criminal offense, and treating it as one constitutes a human rights violation.”
Instantly recognized
Prosecutors argued Sahouri and Robnett didn’t adjust to police orders to depart the chaotic scene and interfered with an officer who pepper-sprayed and arrested Sahouri, who was on project for the newspaper.
Sahouri, 25, instantly recognized herself as a reporter however was however subjected to what she known as “extraordinarily painful” pepper spray blasts and jailed. Robnett, 24, stated he was sprayed after telling the officer Sahouri was a Register journalist.
Sahouri was the primary working US journalist to face a felony trial since 2018, in keeping with the US Press Freedom Tracker, though greater than 125 US journalists had been arrested or detained final yr, the bulk throughout the Black Lives Matter motion.
Most of these journalists weren’t charged or had their fees dismissed.
The Register’s mother or father firm, Gannett, funded the pair’s authorized defence, and workers of the newspaper chain rallied behind Sahouri on social media. Columbia Journalism Faculty, the place Sahouri earned a grasp’s diploma in 2019 earlier than becoming a member of the Register, additionally expressed solidarity by selling the hashtag #JournalismIsNotACrime.
“I put up my fingers. I stated, ‘I am press. I am press. I am press.’ He grabbed me, pepper-sprayed me.”
Register reporter Andrea Sahouri describes the second she was arrested masking a racial justice protest this summer time. See extra from her trial at https://t.co/fgn8vFmfw9 pic.twitter.com/O1FrwvHnxj
— Des Moines Register (@DMRegister) March 10, 2021
Prosecutor Bradley Kinkade urged jurors throughout his closing argument to not take into account that Sahouri was a journalist, saying her career was not a defence in opposition to the fees. He additional argued the video and photographs she reported reside on Twitter of protesters breaking retailer home windows and throwing rocks was “convincing proof” that she was close to an illegal meeting.
Kinkade, an assistant Polk County lawyer, argued that Sahouri and Robnett had been inside listening to distance when police gave orders to disperse – about 90 minutes earlier than they had been pepper-sprayed – however that they stayed with the group. He stated it didn’t matter if they really heard or understood the orders, which had been barely audible on police video that was performed throughout the trial.
Kinkade additionally urged jurors to just accept the testimony of the arresting officer, Luke Wilson, who claimed Robnett tried to drag Sahouri out of his custody and Sahouri briefly resisted arrest.
Wilson acknowledged he had did not report the arrest on his physique digicam and didn’t attempt to get well the video later, in violation of division coverage.
One other Register reporter, Katie Akin, was close to Sahouri and shortly knowledgeable police they had been journalists. Akin was instructed to depart however was not arrested.
Defence lawyer Nicholas Klinefeldt stated the case was a few reporter who was doing her job and a boyfriend who accompanied her for security causes. He stated Sahouri was reporting on the “destruction of property in order that the group may see what was occurring”.
Klinefeldt stated the officer’s declare that they interfered was not credible. Sahouri testified that she put her fingers up and repeatedly recognized herself as a reporter however was nonetheless pepper-sprayed and handcuffed with zip ties.
Video captured by a responding officer confirmed Sahouri in ache, quickly blinded by the pepper spray and repeatedly telling officers that she was a journalist doing her job. Nonetheless, authorities put her in a police van and took her to jail.