Lucio Vasquez/Houston Public Media
Pictured is a court room inside the Harris County Criminal Justice Center located in downtown Houston.
The Harris County District Attorney’s office has dismissed criminal charges against eight protesters who were arrested earlier this year after they agreed to write essays about how to legally fight for social change.
The eight protesters were arrested March 10 during an environmental justice demonstration during the annual CERAWeek energy industry conference in downtown Houston. They were charged with obstructing a public roadway along Avenida De Las Américas, a street that runs parallel to the George R. Brown Convention Center, according to court documents.
Obstructing a highway or other passageway is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a maximum fine of $2,000. According to court documents, the defendants entered into alternative resolution agreements with the DA’s office in which they each had to write an essay and donate $100 to a charity of their choice. Once the defendants met the requirements of the agreement, the misdemeanor charges against them were dropped.
Brian Harrison was the defense attorney for several of the protestors and said he could not remember if the idea for a 1,000-word essay was first proposed by him or the DA’s office.
“In criminal cases, you see defendants having to take ‘making better decisions’ courses or having to do other self-improvement efforts to try and address any underlying problems associated with their offense,” Harrison said. “But I’ve never had a request for a defendant to write an essay before.”
Harrison said most of the defendants were young adults or students, adding that the DA’s office made the agreement in order to devote its limited resources to other matters.
The DA’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
“I think it’s interesting in this moment because ultimately it comes down to the question of what’s the DA going to prioritize in terms of law enforcement,” Harrison said. “Are they going to prioritize fighting crimes that have actual victims or are they going to choose to prosecute political cases for political means?”
The essays were reviewed by the DA’s office, and one was even challenged for allegedly not meeting the requirements, Harrison said.
“I had to defend one of the defendant’s essays from a challenge by the DA,” he said. “They suggested that the essay was not what they had asked for, and I laid it out to them that yes, in fact, it was very much about fighting for social change.”