COLORADO SPRINGS — Prosecutors have dropped charges against two people accused of obstruction for trying to protest the Iraq war while marching in this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.
City Attorney Patricia Kelly said Wednesday it was “not in the public interest” to prosecute Eric Verlo and Elizabeth Fineron after their first trial ended in a mistrial in August.
Charges against five others arrested with Verlo and Fineron had been dropped shortly after the mistrial.
Kelly defended the police decision to arrest the protesters and said the evidence was sufficient to convict them.
Asked to clarify Kelly’s statement, city spokesman John Leavitt said the mistrial showed the public is divided over the case, and that wasn’t likely to change in a second trial.
All seven protesters were charged with obstructing a passage or assembly after they ignored police orders to drop out of the parade. Parade organizers had asked officers to remove them because the parade bans advocating on “social issues.”
