Charges were dismissed against all 18 people who were arrested at the “Stud Alley” Pride party, after a judge found the prosecution lacked enough evidence to support the charges. Nonetheless, several participants reportedly lost jobs because of the charges they faced.
The arrests happened June 27 as more than 100 people were dancing in the street at an unpermitted Pride party in an alley near the former home of the Stud in San Francisco’s South of Market. Eighteen people at the party were arrested and charged with resisting arrest, unlawful assembly, and failing to comply with a dispersal order.
As Mission Local reports, visiting Judge Brian Hill of Santa Barbara ruled Monday that police had not issued a dispersal order immediately before the 18 defendants’ arrests. Upon reviewing police documents and body-camera footage, Hill determined that officers had issued an earlier order more than an hour and a half before the arrests and before the party moved to a new location.
Hill said the earlier dispersal order did not carry over to the later location, and that there was not enough evidence to support the unlawful assembly charges.
“At the end of the day, there’s a very strict requirement that there be a directive to disperse,” Hill said, per Mission Local. “And the fact that one happened an hour and a half before in a different location, I don’t think that has that kind of carry over.”
He also found minimal resistance during the arrests and dismissed the resisting-arrest charges as well.
While police documents described vandalism, street blocking, and noise violations at the party, Hill noted that none of those offenses had been alleged against the 18 people in court. According to Mission Local, some of the defendants had arrived at the party shortly before the arrests and said they were unaware of the earlier dispersal order.
Several of the defendants also reportedly lost their jobs because of the arrests, and one immigrant defendant faced potential visa problems.
Defense attorney Jeff Wozniak questioned why the prosecution pursued the case in the first place.
Previously: SF District Attorney Announces Charges Against 18 ‘Stud Alley’ Block Party Attendees
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