A San Luis Obispo County Superior Court judge on Friday approved a defense motion to disqualify the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office from further prosecuting the case against community activist Tianna Arata.
Arata, who is charged with 13 misdemeanors in connection with a July 21 Black Lives Matter protest in San Luis Obispo, appeared in court via livestream Friday morning.
In court Thursday, her attorneys argued that District Attorney Dan Dow had made several statements on social media and at public events that show implicit bias against the Black Lives Matter movement.
In his ruling, Judge Matthew Guerrero said, “The men and women charged here are entitled to a prosecution not clouded by political or personal advantage to the prosecutor. This is especially pointed in a case where the defendants are protesting injustice and systemic bias. The court’s finding of an apparent and actual conflict of interest make it unlikely that the defendants would receive fair treatment during all portions of the criminal proceedings.”
“That’s one of the most significant rulings in an American courtroom in the history of this country in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement.”
-Curtis Briggs, attorney for Tianna Arata on Judge Matthew Guerrero’s ruling to disqualify @SLOCounty_DA from prosecuting case pic.twitter.com/9OXOY3dwle— Megan Healy (@MeganHealyTV) December 11, 2020
Judge Guerrero pointed specifically to a Sept. 4 campaign fundraising email sent by Dow and his wife.
“The Sept. 4, 2020 email establishes a clear conflict of interest,” Judge Guerrero said. “First, by delivering this fundraising email to potentially tens of thousands of people immediately after the filing of charges, Mr. Dow sought political and professional benefit and campaign contributions in conjunction with the prosecution of the above-entitled cases.”
In part, the email reads, “Dan needs to know more than ever that you support him and he really needs your financial support so he can keep leading the fight in SLO County against the wacky defund the police movement and anarchist groups that are trying to undermine the rule of law and public safety in our community. We had planned his kickoff election campaign fundraiser to be this month, but due to COVID and all the crazy protest activity, we were not able to pull it off.”
Judge Guerrero called the use of the terms anarchist, crazy, and wacky “inflammatory” and said, “These are extrajudicial statements made to potential jurors in an attempt to sway them and to get them to make financial contributions.”
KSBY News has reached out to Dow and the District Attorney’s Office for comment.
The case will now be sent to the California State Attorney General’s Office.
During the protest on July 21, demonstrators blocked Highway 101. Police claimed some protesters committed acts of vandalism.
Arata was arrested that night but wasn’t officially charged by the DA’s office until early September. The charges against her include obstruction of a thoroughfare, false imprisonment, unlawful assembly, and disturbing the peace by loud noise.
In October, Marcus Montgomery, Joshua Powell, and Amman Asfaw were added as co-defendants in the case.
Montgomery is charged with false imprisonment, obstructing the free movement of a person in a public place, and resisting or delaying a peace officer. Powell is charged with resisting or delaying a peace officer, and Asfaw faces a charge of false imprisonment.
In a separate but related case, Robert Lastra Jr., Sam Grocott, and Jerad Hill also face charges in connection with the protest.
Lastra is charged with false imprisonment and felony vandalism for allegedly throwing a skateboard at a silver BMW, breaking the car’s back window. Grocott, who told KSBY News he was struck by the BMW, is facing three charges of false imprisonment, and Hill is charged with one count each of false imprisonment and vandalism.
Elias Bautista, who police say assaulted an officer during Arata’s arrest on July 21, has pleaded not guilty to charges of resisting an executive officer and resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer.