Trials begin for NCGA protestors

Trials begin today for many people arrested during this summer’s Moral Monday protests at the N.C. General Assembly — though some of the nearly 1,000 arrestees have decided in the past few weeks not to take their cases to trial.

Colon Willoughby, Wake County’s district attorney, said a few dozen arrestees have accepted a deferred prosecution offer, in which they will perform 25 hours of community service and pay a $180 court fee to have all charges dropped, and they will not have to admit guilt.

UNC senior Josh Orol, arrested at the legislature in June, said after much thought that he decided to accept Willoughby’s offer and not continue to trial.

He said he’s planning to go to Israel later this year and does not want a pending court case preventing him from taking the trip.

But Irv Joyner, a lawyer representing several protestors and the NAACP’s legal adviser, said a majority of protestors still want to challenge their charges in court.

“They see the arrests as being illegal and unconstitutional, and that they serve as a disincentive on people’s rights to protest and gather at the General Assembly,” Joyner said.

Dr. Charles Van Der Horst, a professor in UNC’s School of Medicine who was arrested, said in an email he decided not to accept the bargain and will continue to a trial, which is scheduled for Oct. 25.

Joyner said he was impressed by the response of the legal community, saying that more than 80 lawyers across the state have volunteered to represent the protestors — and many have taken on multiple cases.

He said given the volume of similar cases, some lawyers are worried that there might be inconsistencies in the treatment from judges.

Geeta Kapur, a lawyer representing nearly 40 of those arrested, said the state has brought in a retired state Supreme Court justice, Joyce Hamilton, to hear all the cases and guarantee consistency.

If someone takes the case to trial in district court and is found guilty, Kapur said, that person can appeal and take his or her case to N.C. Superior Court — a scenario she said was likely if a protestor was found guilty.

Willoughby said some people don’t have their first court date until December, and Kapur said it could easily be a few years before all of these cases are completely processed.

Orol said though he accepted the deferred prosecution, he does not regret his arrest.

“Ultimately, I engaged in civil disobedience to draw attention to this movement and boost the momentum,” he said. “I really had a lot of confidence in what the NAACP was doing, and I think that it worked.”

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