Iowa Journalist Who Was Arrested at Protest Is Found Not Guilty - The New York Times - 0 views
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An Iowa jury acquitted a journalist on Wednesday in a highly unusual trial of a reporter who was arrested last spring as she covered a protest against racism and police violence.
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“I’m thankful to the jury for doing the right thing,” Ms. Sahouri said in a statement after the verdict. “Their decision upholds freedom of the press and justice in our democracy.”
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Carol Hunter, executive editor of The Register, said on Wednesday that she was grateful the jury had seen the case as an unjust prosecution of a reporter doing her job.
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It is uncommon for journalists in the United States to be arrested while on the job, and rarer still for them to face criminal prosecution. In a Feb. 24 editorial, The Register denounced the charges against Ms. Sahouri as “a violation of free press rights and a miscarriage of justice.”
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Luke Wilson, a Des Moines police officer, testified that he had arrested Ms. Sahouri because she did not leave the area of the protest, despite police orders. He added that she had tried to move her arm away from him during the arrest. He also said in court that his body camera had failed to record the interaction.
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Ms. Sahouri testified on Tuesday that she had not heard police dispersal orders because she was focused on reporting what she considered a historic moment. She said she had retreated from the protest area when she was pepper-sprayed. She also testified that she had told the arresting officer that she was reporting on the event.
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The case attracted the attention of press advocates. In a statement this week, Erika Guevara-Rosas, a director of Amnesty International, said the prosecution was “a clear violation of press freedom and fit a disturbing pattern of abuses against journalists by police in the U.S.A.”
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April Ehrlich, a reporter for Jefferson Public Radio in Ashland, Ore., was arrested Sept. 22 while reporting on a police action to clear homeless people from a park in Medford, Ore. Ms. Ehrlich, who won an Edward R. Murrow award last year, was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. A pretrial conference hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
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Another journalist who has been charged is Richard Cummings, a freelance photographer. He was arrested June 1 while covering a demonstration in Worcester, Mass. He had a court hearing on Monday, and his next court date is April 20.