One year after her arrest, the first journalist to go to trial in connection to last year's pipeline protests has been acquitted.
Sara Lafleur-Vetter was filming for The Guardian, a London-based news outlet, when she was arrested on Oct. 22, 2016, with 140 other people near the Dakota Access Pipeline easement by State Highway 1806.
After a daylong misdemeanor court trial with four co-defendants, Surrogate Judge Thomas Merrick dismissed the misdemeanor charges of physical obstruction of a government function, disobedience of safety orders during a riot and disorderly conduct.
Defense attorney Amanda Harris had motioned for a Rule 29 judgment of acquittal after the court heard testimony from several law enforcement officers throughout the day.
"There's no evidence against her. All it shows is she was working," said Merrick, referencing still images of Lafleur-Vetter with cameras and equipment. "She was out there working."
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Lafleur-Vetter, the only defendant from Wednesday's court action to have all charges dropped, said Merrick's decision shocked her. She also said media in the courtroom and her journalist credentials may have helped, but left her with survivor's guilt.
"As a journalist, I have a lot of resources and people who vouch for me, while my co-defendants do not," she said.
Lafleur-Vetter identified herself as a journalist upon arrest, Harris said. At least 10 journalists were arrested in connection to the pipeline protests.
"A journalist is publishing work with a publication that is respected and used as a resource for information in their community," Lafleur-Vetter said.
She had previously been charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass and engaging in a riot, later dismissed, but recharged with lesser offenses.
Harris said that kind of legal wrangling demonstrates a "financial warfare" against defendants.
"This is the fourth time she's been to North Dakota to have her day in court," said Harris, adding that LaFleur-Vetter was missing covering the California wildfires for The Weather Channel due to her trial.
Lafleur-Vetter said she hopes to get back to covering the fires now that she's been acquitted. She added she plans to file for a return of property for the eight SD cards seized in her arrest a year ago.
Attorney Andrea Carter, of the Water Protector Legal Collective, said journalists present a unique case in mass arrest events.
"Obviously, there's concerns whenever journalists are arrested because they're not necessarily participating in a demonstration or a certain action," she said, adding that, in Lafleur-Vetter's case, "everybody was just herded and treated as a group."
North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind and Bismarck Police Lt. Jason Stugelmeyer each testified they did not distinguish journalists from others during arrests.
Lafleur-Vetter will be the only co-defendant to not return to trial when it reconvenes 9:15 a.m. Thursday at the Morton County Courthouse.
Merrick dismissed one or two charges each against the other four defendants, who are Edward Bad Hand, Mary Redway, Alexander Simon and Tyrale Spotted Bear.
About 830 criminal cases sprang from the pipeline protests. Over half have now closed, with most charges dismissed.
