Jury returns not guilty verdicts on all counts for Tolbert, New Era activists—NPR/Ideastream
After more than a month of witness testimony and disputes over admissible evidence, the jury in the trial of three New Era Cleveland activists returned a not guilty verdict on all counts Monday afternoon.
As the 15 not guilty verdicts in the trial of Antoine Tolbert, Austreeia Everson and Rameer Askew were read to a court packed with their supporters, some audience members began sobbing quietly.
Tolbert, who faced eight felony charges and years in prison, described hearing the verdict read as an out-of-body experience.
“Oh man, this is my first real breath in over 365 days. I’ve been holding my breath since Aug. 14 of last year,” Tolbert said. . . .
“Just ask yourselves, go back there and ask yourselves — is there anyone who believes the state proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt?” lead defense attorney Peter Pattakos said during closing arguments on Aug. 7. “[Did they] prove that Tolbert and Everson and Askew actually had criminal intent as opposed to the legitimate, lawful intent to take the actions that they took in pursuit of their mission?” … “They had surveillance footage inside the store that would have showed exactly what Tolbert said. Oops. Gone. Gone. What happened to it?” Pattakos [argued]. “No testimony from a single person that was actually inside the gas station that day. They couldn’t get a single one of their employees, not even a subpoena. The state could have compelled those people if they thought their testimony would be helpful.”
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