Prosecutor defends failed effort to convict Iowa journalist

IOWA CITY, Iowa — An Iowa prosecutor defended his unsuccessful pursuit of charges against a journalist who was arrested while covering a protest, saying Thursday that he believed the evidence was strong and that dismissing the case would have amounted to special treatment.

Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, a Democrat who has held office since 1991, dismissed the outrage he has faced over his decision to prosecute Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri as unwarranted.

A Des Moines police officer pepper-sprayed and arrested Sahouri last May while she was on assignment reporting at a chaotic Black Lives Matter protest outside a mall. Sahouri, 25, was charged with disobeying police orders to disperse and interfering with the officer who arrested her.

A jury acquitted Sahouri of both misdemeanors Wednesday after a three-day trial. Outside observers said they were stunned by the weakness of the prosecution’s evidence and baffled by Sarcone’s decision to pursue the case for nine months.

“We felt there was more than sufficient facts to establish the case. Based on the facts and the law, we proceeded,” Sarcone told The Associated Press by phone Thursday. “We bring cases to jurors and let them decide. What I have a hard time understanding is how everyone wants to short-circuit the jury process.”

Dozens of press freedom and civil liberties groups asked Sarcone to dismiss the charges last summer, saying Sahouri was doing her job and that journalists must be free to cover protests. They blasted Sarcone after her acquittal for pursuing what they called a disgraceful abuse of prosecutorial discretion that wasted tax dollars.

Sarcone said he could not let outside pressure or criticism influence prosecutorial decisions. Dropping the case because of her status as a reporter and support from outside groups would have amounted to special treatment, he said.

Sarcone denied that he had any “ulterior motive” in pursuing a case against a newspaper that has been critical of him over the years. He said Des Moines police investigators believed Sahouri broke the law by remaining near members of an unlawful assembly who were damaging commercial property and throwing rocks at officers after they were told to leave. His office agreed.

“She got arrested an hourand-a-half after dispersal orders were given. Those are lawful orders. People can’t defy those lawful orders,“Sarcone said. “No one is above the law.”

But the evidence at trial suggested those orders weren’t clear, and Sahouri and others testified that they never heard them. The orders were issued 90 minutes before Sahouri was arrested as police were trying to clear an intersection where protesters surrounded a squad car. Officers were also heard telling protesters to “back up” and protest peacefully.