Around 40 supporters of the two activists arrested last year during a July 4 march filled a room at the Hillsborough County Courthouse and watched as the judge made his decision.
The motion’s key aims were to restrict discussion of the constitutionality of protests, the “right to free speech” and public assemblies, and the alleged peaceful nature of the protest.
Assistant State Attorney Danielle Villamil argued that discussion of these subjects might “distract the jury” during the trial. The defense argued against that, saying that the context of the protest is important for a jury to understand.
Judge Kiser decided all those subjects should be part of the trial, along with discussion of police behavior at the July 4 protest, which the state was also trying to restrict.
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In all, Kiser shot down six out of the eight main requests from the state attorney’s (SAO13) motion and allowed two.
One will restrict discussion of the “defendant’s lack of criminal history” and the other bars any conversation about police behavior at protests outside of the July 4 action where the defendants were arrested.
In another victory for the defense, Kiser ruled that the unlawful assembly charges against the protesters should be dropped after the defense argued that Florida state law says that blocking a roadway should lead to a civil citation, not a criminal charge. “Today was a win for us,” defense attorney Michelle Lambo, who represents protester Jamie Bullock, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
Bullock initially faced battery on a law enforcement officer, a felony, and two misdemeanor charges. The battery on law enforcement charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. SAO13 offered Bullock a plea deal in which Bullock would accept a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence, but she refused because she feels she was within her first amendment rights that day.
Just having an arrest on her record has upended her life, and if she goes to court and wins, she feels that she can move on with her life without a criminal record disrupting her future.
Bullock already pleaded not guilty to her charges earlier this year.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Chukwudi Uche, another protester arrested on July 4, decided to plead not guilty to the charge of carrying a concealed firearm, a felony. The prosecutors have also accused him of throwing a water bottle at an officer. SAO13 offered Uche a plea deal, which included 18 months probation, but he denied the deal.
Now, Bullock and Uche are set to head to trial together next week, unless a motion to dismiss the case is presented by the defense and accepted by SAO13.
After denying most of the state's Motion in Limine, Judge Kiser made it clear to the defense that he didn’t want to give a “law school class” about the amendments and the right to protest. The defense replied that it knows how to navigate a trial and would stick to the main subjects of the case.
Two hours before the hearing, the SAO13 office added a long list of video and photo evidence that it wanted excluded from the court case as part of its Motion in Limine. This list includes a request to remove video evidence showing that Tampa Police Department bicycle officers pedaled down a side street and biked directly into the group of protesters as they were peacefully marching down Dale Mabry Highway and began accosting them.
The last minute request left both the defense and judge Kiser scrambling to review the evidence SAO13 wanted removed from the trial. The confusion led to an extension of Tuesday’s hearing, which went more than three hours.
Initially, Kiser blamed the defense for not having reviewed the material the SAO’s office wanted excluded, but Lambo pointed out that she and the other defense lawyers had just received the exact material the prosecutors wanted removed, despite SAO13 having more than a month to furnish the evidence it wanted removed from the trial.
CL Tampa Bay asked SAO13 office why the list of requested evidence to be excluded came in so close to the time of the hearing.
“Both sides have had all the videos for several weeks; this was just the matter of compiling the specific list,” Grayson Kamm, Chief Communications Officer told CL in an email. “People involved with the case had unexpected medical issues, and that delayed us putting together our list.”
Judge Kiser sided with the state on limiting some video and photo evidence, and sided with the defense on other video and photo evidence it argued are pertinent to Bullock and Uche’s charges.
During the hearing, prosecutor Villamil argued that TPD had not used excessive force during the protest. The defense countered and pointed to video and photo evidence from the protest which it argues shows police using excessive force. Some of that evidence is part of the long list of items SAO13 wants excluded from the trial.
“The state does not get to decide how the jury sees this case,” said defense attorney Maria Pavlidis, who is representing Bullock with Lambo.
Today, the defense teams for Bullock and Uche have the option of filing a motion to dismiss the case. If they do, that will be heard in court on Friday, Oct. 1 before the upcoming trial dates which are tentatively set for next week.
In addition to their presence inside the courtroom, Bullock and Uche’s supporters also gathered outside the courthouse to demand that SAO13 drop the charges. During the rally, a group of schoolchildren walked by and cheered along in support.
“I’m still feeling a lot of anxiety,” Bullock told CL before the hearing. “But it made my day to see so many people show up here.”
Protesters outside of Hillsborough County courthouse demanding @sao13th drop the charges on @jamiebullockk pic.twitter.com/szaTXYqiGS
— Justin Garcia (@JustinGarciaFL) September 28, 2021
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This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2021.