Journalist Cleared of Riot Charges in South Dakota (nbcnews.com)

Her video went viral, viewed more than 14 million times, and triggering concerns online when she was threatened with prison. But a North Dakota judge "refused to authorize riot charges against award-winning journalist Amy Goodman for her reporting on an attack against Native American-led anti-pipeline protesters." An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes NBC News: Goodman described the victory as a "great vindication of the First Amendment," although McLean County State's Attorney Ladd Erickson told The New York Times that additional charges were possible. "I believe they want to keep the investigation open and see if there is any evidence in the unedited and unpublished videos that we could better detail in an affidavit for the judge," Erickson told the newspaper.
The native Americans "were attempting to block the destruction of sacred sites, including ancestral burial grounds," according to a new article co-authored by Goodman about her experiences, which argues that "Attempts to criminalize nonviolent land and water defenders, humiliate them and arrest journalists should not pave the way for this pipeline."

Comments

Still a justice failure

[Anonymous Coward]

Many may say "this is the justice system working as intended" . If you are one of those people: you are wrong. This is the justice system being abused to send a message to all who disagree. "careful, we can hurt you. you mind want to consider before becoming going against us."

And people still wonder how we managed to end up with the presidential candidates we currently have... We do not vote in anticipating for a bright and better future anymore. We vote in fear.

Re: Still a justice failure

[grasshoppa]

They did not succeed in their stated aims, but that is not the same as "failed". I'd hazard these douchebags were happy with the message that they sent.

The only "fail" condition for these officials would have been some form of punishment up to and including deprivation of the roles and responsibilities as government agents.

They basically threw some shit at the wall to see if it would stick. It didn't, but it did leave a nice stain, and they're free to do it again and again in the future.

Re: Still a justice failure

[ShanghaiBill]

Well it is the justice system just like it should.

Not true. Dragging someone through an expensive and time consuming legal process is often far worse than any possible judicially imposed punishment.

Some assholes _tried_ to abuse it though, and failed.

1. They abused it by spending the tax dollars, and on behalf of, the citizens of North Dakota.
2. There is (apparently) no consequences, either legally or politically, for the abusers.
This is not "as it should be".

Re: Still a justice failure

[StillAnonymous]

So, the settlement money came out of the taxpayer's pocket in the end. Great. Just great.

Can't the assholes responsible be sued personally?

Is malicious prosecution ever treated as a felony?

[BozoForPresident]

I hope Amy Goodman turns around and goes on the offensive against the pieces of shit that puked out these bullshit charges against her.

Re:progressive thinking

[drinkypoo]

But heaven forbid people want to build an oil pipeline, something that actually makes roads safer and actually saves energy: then progressives are up in arms and start protesting and rioting, and they are not above using Native Americans as props in their political theater.

Until you start using the most primitive of available technologies to make oil pipelines safe, like double-walled pipes with interstitial leak monitors, you can stick those oil pipelines up your ass.