OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The city of Omaha’s top prosecutor plans to appeal a judge’s dismissal of cases against 25 protesters arrested as part of a much larger mass arrest during a demonstration opposing racial injustice last summer.
Omaha City Prosecutor Matt Kuhse said he will appeal the dismissal, the Omaha World-Herald reported Friday. Kuhse argues that the city ordinance shot down by Douglas County Judge Marcena Hendrix last week as unconstitutional is different from a similar St. Louis law earlier found to be unconstitutional by a federal judge.
In the Omaha case, Hendrix ruled that Omaha’s ordinance prohibiting the obstruction of a highway or street is “overly broad” and “clearly regulates protected speech.”
At issue was a demonstration on July 25 over the lack of charges against a white bar owner in the May 30 shooting death of James Scurlock, a 22-year-old Black man, during a clashes downtown in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
As part of the Omaha demonstration, some protesters blocked the Farnam Street bridge. Police said the protesters had failed to obtain a permit and arrested more than 100 people who were peacefully protesting. Those arrested were held for hours in crowded cells at a jail that was battling a COVID-19 outbreak. Afterward, city prosecutors dismissed most of the charges against protesters because of a lack of evidence.
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