Michigan AG Dana Nessel drops all charges against U-M pro-Palestinian protesters

Yahoo

06-05-2025

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has dropped all charges against seven pro-Palestinian protesters arrested last year on the University of Michigan Diag.
The seven were facing misdemeanor charges of trespassing as well as felony charges of resisting and obstructing police. The defendants in the cases were: Oliver Kozler, Samantha Lewis, Henry MacKeen-Shapiro, Michael Mueller, Asad Siddiqui, Avi Tachna-Fram and Rhiannon Willow. All had pleaded not guilty.
The group hugged each other, smiled and posed for a photo with their attorneys in the courtroom after learning the news.
"I told you, 'it's a great day,' " Lewis said to the others, when their lawyers entered the courtroom from a meeting in the judge's chambers.
Henry MacKeen-Shapiro, left, is stunned as his lawyer, Lauren Askew, right, informs him on Monday, May 5, 2025, that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was dropping all charges against him and six other protesters arrested last year on the University of Michigan Diag.
Outside the courthouse before the proceedings began, about 50 demonstrators rallied in front of a sign reading "Drop the charges." Speakers used an amplifier to address the crowd decrying the war in Gaza as genocide.
Inside the courthouse, the decision to drop the charges stunned defense lawyers, who were prepared to offer closing arguments in a preliminary exam that began in February.
Last month, Nessel faced calls for her to recuse herself for what critics describe as bias in the case. In a statement issued after the court hearing, Nessel defended herself and her decision to seek the felony charges.
'We did so based on the evidence and facts of the case," the statement said. "I stand by those charges and that determination."
Nessel criticized Ann Arbor District Judge Cedric Simpson for the slow pace of the case, saying there'd been "months and months" of court hearings without a ruling on whether there was enough evidence to send the case to circuit court for trial.
"During this time, the case has become a lightning rod of contention," Nessel's statement said. 'Baseless and absurd allegations of bias have only furthered this divide. The motion for recusal has been a diversionary tactic which has only served to further delay the proceedings."
Another factor in her decision, Nessel said, was a letter from the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, defending Nessel from accusations of bias. The letter was submitted to the court May 2.
"The notion that AG Nessel is biased against Muslims and Americans of Arab descent is unfounded and deeply offensive," the letter said. "Nessel has a strong history of uplifting those in both the Muslim and Arab American communities."
Nessel said the letter was inappropriate. The Free Press has asked her office to elaborate, but didn't receive an immediate response.
"We have learned that a public statement in support of my office from a local nonprofit has been directly communicated to the court," Nessel's statement said. "The impropriety of this action has led us to the difficult decision to drop these charges."
Nessel did not attend the hearing. Inside the courtroom, one of her deputies, Robyn Liddell, made the motion to dismiss the case. When none of the defense attorneys objected, Simpson agreed to the dismissal.
The courtroom was packed with spectators, many of them wearing keffiyehs. They burst into applause at the decision and began chants of "Free Palestine."
Amir Makled, who represented Lewis, said the charges never should have been brought.
"This was not about trespass, this was not about a felony conduct," Makled said. "This was the criminalization of free speech, and today, the state of Michigan agrees."
John Minock, who represented Tachna-Fram, said his client was relieved.
"This was a difficult prosecution, given the First Amendment implications, and I'm glad the state finally saw fit to dismiss it," he said.
After the hearing, the group moved outside where a small celebration started. Spectators enjoyed coffee and bagels while the defendants and their lawyers addressed the group.
Lewis blasted Nessel.
"I think that the possibility of recusal was going to be so embarrassing for Nessel that she just couldn't bear it," Lewis said. "And so while all of us, and that includes all of you, refused to cower, she did. And that just goes to show that the bullies and badges and the top pig are just cowards."
Lewis acknowledged she still faces charges in a separate case involving a protest at Festifall, the school's annual student organizing fair. A hearing in that case is scheduled for next month and she hopes to see those charges dismissed as well.
"I don't want to speak too soon, but I think that this is a really good sign," she said.
Lauren Askew represents MacKeen-Shapiro and gave him the news before the hearing, after an earlier meeting among the attorneys. MacKeen-Shapiro appeared speechless at the news.
"I thought she was just happy to see me but then I'm like, 'why are my parents crying?' " he said.
MacKeen-Shapiro appeared in court wearing an ankle tether to monitor his movements. He was ordered to wear it after being charged with a bond violation for an incident in March when he was seen hanging posters in an area known as the Fish Bowl inside Mason Hall.
His bond allowed him on campus, but only to attend class. According to a police report on the incident, MacKeen-Shapiro was photographed by private security agents. They turned their photographs over to police, who identified MacKeen-Shapiro in them.
MacKeen-Shapiro said he wore the tether to graduation over the weekend and was looking forward to getting it removed now that the case had been dropped.
Like many protesters at U-M, these defendants faced misdemeanor trespassing charges, but Nessel decided to seek felony charges in September for resisting and obstructing police, punishable by up to two years in prison. Nessel said at the time that they used "physical force to counter" the police officers who were trying to clear them from an encampment they had established on the Diag.
Assistant Michigan Attorney General Shawn Ryan, left, speaks to various defense attorneys including John Minock, Lauren Askew, Stacie Greskowiak McNulty and Jamil Kamel Khuja as defendants, arrested and charged from a pro-Palestinian protest that occurred on the University of Michigan campus last May, show for a preliminary exam in the Washtenaw 14A-1 District Courtroom of Judge Cedric Simpson in Ann Arbor, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.
Defense attorneys said they were offered plea deals before the exam began, but their clients turned them down.
"They don't feel like they've done anything wrong," Makled said.
The decision to drop the charges came after two full days of testimony spread out over three months. It included testimony from several U-M police officers who took the stand to describe their interactions with the defendants.
Police were trying to clear an encampment established on the Diag to protest the war in Gaza and the university's refusal to divest its endowment holdings in companies connected to Israel.
Fire Marshal Andrew Box also testified that the tents and other parts of the encampment posed a fire hazard.
The officers described the protesters' conduct such as ignoring police commands to move back, throwing tables and chairs in the path of police and linking arms and refusing to move.
The officers' body cameras captured video of the confrontations that were played in court, often with the officers narrating what the court was seeing.
(This story has been updated with additional information and to correct the spelling of attorney John Minock's name.)
Contact John Wisely: [e-mail]. On X: @jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan AG drops charges against U-M pro-Palestinian protesters