Las Vegas decided to drop cases against 90 protesters. Is that an indictment of Metro?

Thousands gathered in downtown Las Vegas during protests earlier this year to oppose President Donald Trump’s administration and its tactics targeting illegal immigration.

Over 100 people were arrested, but most of the cases are not going to proceed, at least for now.

The Las Vegas city attorney’s office has decided not to prosecute 90 protesters whose arrests stemmed from the June demonstrations, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday.

Those who were taken into custody spent time in jail and “each case has already resulted in a meaningful consequence and an appropriate measure of accountability,” the city said in a statement.

Sheriff Kevin McMahill, who leads the the Metropolitan Police Department, indicated that he was unhappy with the decision.

“I strongly disagree with this decision made by the city and its attorney’s office,” McMahill said in a statement Friday. “If the city doesn’t want to prosecute riotous behavior, I won’t subject my officers to rocks, bottles and batteries being thrown at them in city jurisdiction.”

Some lawyers involved in representing the protesters see prosecutors’ decision not to follow through as an indictment of Metro’s arrests.

“It speaks volumes that there was no actual criminal activity at the ICE protest, that people were engaging in protected First Amendment activity,” said attorney Maggie McLetchie.

The city praised police in a follow-up statement Saturday and said the city attorney’s decision should not be seen as a criticism of police.

“The statute of limitations for these charges is one year, and if new evidence emerges, those individuals could still face further legal action,” the city said.

‘Quite disturbing’

McLetchie on Friday said she found the city’s earlier statement “quite disturbing.”

“It forgets that you’re not supposed to be punished unilaterally by the police officers,” she said.

“People aren’t guilty because they get arrested and because the city attorney’s office says, ‘Oh, that’s meaningful accountability for their crimes,’” she added. “There is no crime until it’s been established in the courts and in fact, nobody was guilty of a crime for just simply protesting and being present after a dispersal order was given.”

Police union president Steve Grammas said city prosecutors may have felt they could not obtain a conviction.

“It’s maybe just posturing” that the dropped cases should be seen as an indictment of Metro, said David Roger, a former district attorney and an attorney for the police union.

There are a number of reasons prosecutors may decide not to proceed with cases like this, he said, including that they view the cases as an unnecessary expense, believe any issues were resolved by detentions and citations, see that the defendants have no prior criminal history and do not wish to litigate First Amendment issues.

The downtown protests were held on June 11 and June 14. Police said that 94 people were arrested during the June 11 protest alone. Another 15 arrests were linked to the subsequent protest.

It’s unclear what happened to additional cases that were not reflected on a spreadsheet provided by the city with information about 90 defendants.

The city said some protest cases remain open and could still result in prosecutions.

Controversial cases dropped

Though Metro claimed that protesters threw rocks and blocked roads, the department also faced controversy over arrests that legal experts said appeared retaliatory.

Following the June 11 protest, Metro officers arrested two filmers on June 12 after one said, “Honor your oath, b----” to police. Video of the encounter went viral on social media, with over 3.4 million views on X alone.

Unlawful assembly charges against the two in the video — Cesar Corrales and Karlin Martinez — were dropped Aug. 21, according to Las Vegas Municipal Court Records.

Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said it was clear Corrales and Martinez should not have been arrested or faced the possibility of charges.

“It’s a free country,” Steinbaugh said. “You’re allowed to deride and insult police officers. If you weren’t, we’d live in a police state.”

Attorneys take issue with tactics

This is not the first time protesters have been arrested and then not prosecuted.

Prosecutors also dropped charges for most of the people arrested as part of 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, the Las Vegas Review-Journal previously reported.

McLetchie, who has represented Corrales, and others saw broad problems with Metro’s handling of protests.

“Rather than focus in on actual criminal activity, it’s Metro’s approach to protest to just declare it an unlawful assembly and say that everybody present is essentially a criminal, arrest them and cite them en masse, without any specific basis that any individual person committed a crime,” she said.

McLetchie said she also represents plaintiffs pursuing civil rights claims that stem from the 2020 protests.

Martinez’s attorney, Stephen Stubbs, said he represented 20 of the June protesters.

Dispersal orders given during the protests were unconstitutional, he said. Police were legally required to provide “fair notice” and “an opportunity to comply,” but Metro arrested people outside the dispersal zone at the June 11 protest, according to Stubbs.

Police also improperly used “cookie cutter” police reports for the June 11 protests, Stubbs said. Under the Fourth Amendment, he said, there must be probable cause that each arrestee has committed a crime.

Andre Lagomarsino, a Henderson lawyer who has litigated cases against police, said Metro officers should receive more training on deescalation and protesters’ First Amendment rights.

“People simply occupying the streets and voicing their opinions, whether with their voice or signs or videotaping, that’s not enough to justify force,” he said.

‘Clear intimidation tactics’

ACLU of Nevada Legal Director Chris Peterson said that sometimes, “government agencies that have violated people’s civil rights will try to push for a conviction because a conviction can protect them from liability.”

Metro released tear gas and fired projectiles, hurting people who were not being violent, he said. He provided a letter from the department disclosing that officers deployed 750 PepperBall rounds in the June protests, as well as dozens of other munitions.

Peterson thinks police violated a state law passed after 2020 protests that prohibits police from indiscriminately firing projectiles into crowds of protesters or at a person’s head.

“The sad thing is that we’re seeing a lot of similarities between this situation in 2020” and the recent protests, said Peterson, who was detained while observing a 2020 protest and had his case dismissed. He said the ACLU has helped protesters find attorneys and supported attorneys handling the cases.

McLetchie said she’s heard from people that because of the arrests, they are afraid to protest.

“It’s clear intimidation tactics,” she said. “Whether intended or not, it has the effect of chilling free speech.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.