It appears that criminal trespassing in the United States has been taken off the books.
Ten days ago, a Manhattan prosecutor dismissed charges against 31 pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall on Columbia University’s campus. Their lack of criminal history and the “extremely limited video and security footage” available to prosecutors resulted in the release of the protesters.
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“All these matters are dismissed and sealed in the interest of justice,” Judge Kevin McGrath announced in the courtroom.
Some justice.
On Wednesday, a prosecutor in Travis County, Texas, dismissed similar charges against 80 protesters. Delia Garza, a Democrat who is the elected attorney for Travis County, “determined it couldn’t meet the legal burden to prove the cases beyond a reasonable doubt,” according to the Associated Press.
What’s happening? The reason prosecutors are dropping the charges is that radical law firms would have represented the protesters, which would have made prosecuting the offenders a nightmare. They could have tied up the courts for weeks, even months, until the DA would have dropped the charges out of exasperation.
Lawfare by any other name.
The UT protests were even more disruptive and violent than the demonstrations at Columbia.
On April 29 at UT, officers in riot gear encircled about 100 sitting protesters, dragging or carrying them out one by one amid screams. Another group of demonstrators trapped police and a van full of arrestees between buildings, creating a mass of bodies pushing and shoving. Officers used pepper spray and flash-bang devices to clear the crowd.
The university said in a statement at the time that many of the protesters weren’t affiliated with the school and that encampments were prohibited on the campus in the state capital. The school also alleged that some demonstrators were “physically and verbally combative” with university staff, prompting officials to call law enforcement. The Texas Department of Public Safety said arrests were made at the behest of the university and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
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Garza sympathized with the protesters and called out school authorities for siccing the police on the protesters. She said she wished the university leadership had looked for “another solution to allow these students to voice what they felt like they needed to voice.”
Enforcing the law is not part of Garza’s portfolio.
Meanwhile, UT officials were livid with Garza’s grandstanding.
In a statement, UT said the school was “deeply disappointed” by Garza’s actions, adding that the school “will continue to use the law enforcement and administrative tools at our disposal to maintain safety and operational continuity for our 53,000 students who come to campus to learn, regardless of whether the criminal justice system shares this commitment.”
“Free speech is welcome on our campus. Violating laws or rules is not,” the statement said. “Actions that violate laws and Institutional Rules should be met with consequences, not with political posturing and press conferences.”
That’s the point. If you don’t like the law, change it. We can do that in America. If you want to allow students or anyone else to violate property rights and not face any consequences, change the darn law. Don’t get up on a soapbox and complain about the law and pretend you can’t do anything about it.
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