Rev. Barber convicted of trespassing at General Assembly during 2017 protest

Note: This was published on June 6.


RALEIGH -- Civil rights leader the Rev. William Barber was convicted Thursday on trespassing charges stemming from his 2017 protest at the General Assembly, ending a trial that pitted civil disobedience against strict enforcement of the law.

It took jurors just 22 minutes to find Barber guilty after four days of testimony that included video footage of his call-and-response chant protesting health care spending deficiencies outside Sen. Phil Berger’s office.

Presiding Judge Stephan Futrell said he worried about “the great political divide that’s hanging over all of this,” but he saw no signs that jurors were swayed by partisanship.

“It’s hard to find too much reason to punish,” he said, “and in this case I’m not inclined to do so.”

Barber received a one-day sentence, suspended, 12 months of unsupervised probation, a $200 fine and 24 hours of community service.

Read more: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article231254283.html