DA dismisses hundreds of protesters’ cases.

Charges dropped ‘in the interest of justice,’ Ogg says; 52 others still face prosecution

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday dismissed almost 800 cases filed against protesters arrested during the George Floyd demonstrations last week in Houston.

In total, prosecutors dropped 796 charges filed against 654 protesters, District Attorney Kim Ogg said. Many of those cases were cited in court filings as being dismissed “in the interest of justice.”

Charges still remain against 51 adults and one juvenile accused of 35 misdemeanors and 19 felonies, Ogg said. Those include weapons offenses and charges of aggravated assault of a peace officer.

Prosecutors made their decisions by looking at “people who sought to do harm (to) others and property vs. those arrested for simple civil disobedience,” according to a news release.

“The job of the prosecutor is to seek individualized justice in every case,” Ogg said. “While probable cause existed for the arrests of those people who refused to disperse after being ordered to do so by police, our young prosecutors worked hard to identify the few offenders who came to inflict harm on others and intentional damage to property.”

The dismissed cases were nonviolent misdemeanors, mostly obstructing a highway and trespassing.

Houston police had announced at least 673 arrests during several days of protests after the death in Minneapolis of Floyd, who was buried Tuesday in Pearland. Some of those charges included aggravated assault on peace officers, criminal trespass, evading arrest, obstructing a roadway and criminal mischief.

Monique Sparks, of the Houston Protestors’ Defense Team, commended the DA’s office for dismissing some charges. She said her group, which is representing protesters for free, is now focused on expunging charges from their clients’ records.

“What it shows is that our DA’s

office is on board with what the Constitution says,” Sparks said. “We think this

is a good start.”

The protesters will be informed of avenues to take if they want to file civil lawsuits, Sparks said. The district attorney’s office will work to help expunge the

cases from the protesters’ records, although they might need representation to do so, Ogg said.

Sarah Wood, policy director at the Harris County Public Defender’s Office,

noted that such expunctions cost hundreds of dollars — both for hiring a lawyer and in state filing fees.

“It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing, but the mass dismissal signals

how the charges were unjustified in the first place,” Wood said.

Some of the arrested protesters have complained of mistreatment by the police, including false arrests and limited access to food and water while being held in a gymnasium before being transported to the jail.