Criminal Justice
Charges Dropped Against Lawyer Who Wouldn't Show ID
A Washington judge dismissed charges this week against a lawyer who was arrested at an anti-war protest when he refused to produce identification for police to review.
Legrand Jones, of Olympia, Wash., was jailed in July during a protest held at the Port of Tacoma, the News Tribune reports.
William Ferrell, who represented Jones, had argued that it’s not a crime to refuse to identify yourself to police. The prosecution, however, maintained that Jones was suspected of trespassing at the time.
The judge dismissed both charges.
“Police were stopping people for real or imaginary criminal activities and asking for identification,” Ferrell told the paper. “It was a tactic to gather intelligence.”
