Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Announces it will
Drop Some Charges against Black Lives Matters Protestors
On Tuesday, June 30, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO) announced in a memo to all Assistant State’s Attorneys that it would be declining to prosecute a number of charges against people arrested at recent protests against anti-Black racism and police violence.
This announcement comes after calls to drop the charges have come from local activists, community groups and legal organizations including the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago (NLG Chicago.) The announcement follows similar announcements by prosecutors across the country, in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Denver, and others.
We anticipate that this will lead to a large number of protest-related cases being dropped. However, it DOES NOT include all the protest related cases.
The memo issued by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (available here) lists five types of charges that are “most likely to be the result of a protest-related arrest” and states that there will be a “presumption of dismissal” for those cases. Additionally, the memo lists eight types of charges where there will be a “presumption against proceeding” unless a Police Officer is the complaining witness or there is Body Worn Camera footage to support the charge.
It still remains to be seen which specific cases the SAO will be pursuing and which ones they will drop.
It is also important to note that this applies ONLY to the Cook County SAO and does NOT apply to the Chicago City prosecutors who prosecute city issued ordinance violations. Independent of Kim Foxx’s Office, the City of Chicago has brought charges against protestors for violating City ordinances. As stated in the Foxx memo, these protest-related municipal violations are largely for “disorderly conduct” and “curfew violations.”
The City has not indicated that it will drop any of these charges written up as violations of the municipal law. We believe there are hundreds of people being charged with violating these City laws whose charges are unaffected by the Foxx memo. Neither the mayor or the corporation counsel of the City of Chicago have made any statement or pronouncement that they do not intend to prosecute the city charges against protestors.
For individuals who are facing charges related to the recent uprisings and have contacted NLG for legal support, this announcement does not mean you don’t have to appear at court. Unless you have received information from the court or from your attorney that you do not need to appear in court, you should still plan to appear at your first court date.
For those attorneys who have volunteered with the NLG to provide pro bono representation to the individuals arrested at the recent protests and uprisings, we will still be relying on your assistance and support.
As long as there continue to be charges brought against people who are taking action against state violence and white supremacy, we will continue to organize to provide legal support to those people.
We call on Lori Lightfoot and the City of Chicago to follow suit and DROP ALL CITY CHARGES related to these protests.