AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Travis County Attorney Delia Garza said Wednesday that dozens of criminal trespass cases connected to pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas earlier this year have been dismissed.
Garza said 79 arrests were made in connection with the protests on April 29. Those arrests made it past an initial review for probable cause; since then, a team of prosecutors evaluated each case, but ultimately determined the cases did not meet a burden for further prosecution.
"After examining and weighing all the evidence presented, we have determined that we cannot meet our legal burden to prove these 79 criminal trespass cases beyond a reasonable doubt, and they will be dismissed," Garza said.
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/talk1370/news/local/ut-begins-disciplinary-actions-against-student-protesters" headline="UT says it will take disciplinary action against students for "rules violations" during April protests" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=64748203"]An earlier protest on April 24 saw 57 people arrested, but those charges were rejected because of issues with probable cause affidavits.
Garza said her office spent about 90 hours evaluating the cases. Only criminal trespass charges have been dismissed; a handful of other charges stemming from the protests remain under review.
