No more prosecution or restorative justice for Portland Black Lives Matter group

PORTLAND — Criminal prosecution will not be renewed against 17 protesters arrested in a Commercial Street demonstration last year in support of Black Lives Matter.

Neither will the defendants be asked to take part in a restorative justice program that was part of a plea agreement to allow criminal charges to be dismissed. All criminal charges will be dismissed July 26.

“We have seen nothing from the Black Lives Matter demonstrators that suggests they actually want to have a conversation,” Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson told TV stations Wednesday, after a motion to restore criminal charges to the Cumberland County Unified Criminal Docket was denied.

In a six-page decision, Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Lance Walker ruled Anderson’s decision to terminate a Feb. 1 restorative justice meeting with the defendants, who were arrested July 15, 2016, did not mean the defendants violated the terms of the agreement.

Read more: http://www.theforecaster.net/charges-against-portland-black-lives-matter-group-will-not-be-reinstated/