The Black Lives Matter protesters who shut down a section of Portland’s Commercial Street last summer are now legally off the hook.
After several go-rounds in court, the clock has run out on a deal that allowed disorderly conduct charges to be wiped out if 6 months passed without any of the protesters committing a new offense, and if protesters met privately with police to discuss their differences in an attempt at “restorative justice.”
“The case is over,” says John Gale, a lawyer for one of the defendants, Karen Lane.
LAne was one of 17 arrested after blocking the busy downtown street last July in an effort to draw attention to a spate of police shootings of African-Americans in the U.S.
After the effort at a restorative justice meeting broke down, prosecutors sought to reinstate the charges. But a Superior Court judge turned back that request, insisting again on restorative justice. Since no further attempt was made by either side, the original charges have been erased.
“Ultimately, the state was saved the time and expense of a trial, but I think the bigger issue for the protesters was that they wanted to draw attention to the issues that matter to them, and they were successful,” Gale says.
The protesters did each pay a $200 fine, but their records are now clean.