A Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia today overturned the 2007 criminal convictions of anti-war protesters arrested outside the Bush White House who had a valid permit to gather.
The defendants were convicted of either failure to obey a lawful order of a police officer to disperse or of crossing a police line. They had been holding a peaceful prayer vigil against the Iraq War, an exercise of their First Amendment rights, as allowed by their permit.
The appellate court said prosecutors had presented "no evidence whatsoever" at the original trial that any regulation was violated. The court further noted that U.S. Park Police improperly revoked the demonstrators' valid permit which allowed them to assemble on the public sidewalk outside the White House.
A police captain had claimed on the night of the protest that he could revoke the permit because participants had violated a regulation prohibiting stationary signs and because they failed to "continue to move along the sidewalk."
The appellate court found that, at trial, prosecutors failed to present any witnesses who could identify any of the protesters. Additionally, prosecutors had failed to produce any evidence that the defendants were carrying signs the night of their arrest or that any of them had crossed a police line.