Judge Throws Out Disorderly Conduct Case Against Kshama Sawant
A SeaTac city judge dismissed disorderly conduct charges against Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant and two other defendants Friday, saying police -- not protesters -- blocked traffic during a demonstration over wages.
Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant. (AP / Elaine Thompson)
A SeaTac city judge abruptly dismissed disorderly conduct charges against Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant and two other defendants Friday, saying police — not protesters — blocked traffic during a demonstration over wages.
The Seattle Times reports:
The defense didn’t need to call witnesses and the jury didn’t deliberate because Judge Ann Danieli terminated the trial moments after prosecutors rested their case.
Danieli agreed with a defense lawyer, who argued the prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence that Sawant, the Rev. John Helmiere and airport worker Socrates Bravo engaged in disorderly conduct by intentionally blocking traffic.
Testimony from police officers showed that it was police who blocked traffic on International Boulevard in the minutes before Sawant, Helmiere and Bravo were arrested, the judge said.
Read more here.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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