New Evidence Shows That Los Angeles Protesters Were Arrested Based on Lies

The law-enforcement and military occupation of Los Angeles never was much more than an authoritarian dumbshow. Now, though, The Guardian has gone through the records of the subsequent legal proceedings and found that it was even more malignant than it appeared.

The officers’ testimony was cited in at least five cases filed by the U.S. Department of Justice amid the unrest. The justice department has charged at least twenty-six people with “assaulting” and “impeding” federal officers and other crimes during the protests over immigration raids. Prosecutors, however, have since been forced to dismiss at least eight of those felonies, many of them which relied on officers’ inaccurate reports, court records show. The justice department has also dismissed at least three felony assault cases it brought against Angelenos accused of interfering with arrests during recent immigration raids, the documents show.

The Guardian’s review of records found:

Out of nine “assault” and “impeding” felony cases the justice department filed immediately after the start of the protests and promoted by the attorney general, Pam Bondi, prosecutors dismissed seven of them soon after filing the charges.

In reports that led to the detention and prosecution of at least five demonstrators, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents made false statements about the sequence of events and misrepresented incidents captured on video.

One DHS agent accused a protester of shoving an officer, when footage appeared to show the opposite: the officer forcefully pushed the protester.

One indictment named the wrong defendant, a stunning error that has jeopardized one of the government’s most high-profile cases.

What an incomprehensible mess. A bunch of deputized meatheads who bust anyone in sight, make up the reasons why, and don’t even factor in the possibility that, in an age where everyone with a phone is Eyewitness News, there might be videos available to make liars out of them in court. Real gumshoes, these guys. And the incompetence goes right to the top.

Essayli, the U.S. attorney for LA, who is an ardent Trump supporter appointed this year, initially published mugshots of the defendants, but has not publicly acknowledged that he has since dismissed their felonies. Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for Essayli, declined to comment on a detailed list of questions about specific cases. The Los Angeles Times reported last week that Essayli was heard “screaming” at a prosecutor over a grand jury’s refusal to indict one of the protesters.

Mythology tells us that Hercules cleaned out the Augean stables by diverting the Alpheus and Peneus rivers through them. It’s going to take the Mississippi and Missouri, and maybe some of the Mononghela to clean up ICE and immigration law enforcement.