Convictions tossed for Crawford protesters

The 10th Court of Appeals in Waco on Feb. 13 reversed the convictions of two Iraq War protesters who participated in a 2005 protest in Crawford, home to President George W. Bush's ranch. According to the facts set out in Hardy v. State, Emily Hardy and Hiram Myers participated in a protest organized by Cindy Sheehan outside of the Bush ranch in an encampment dubbed “Camp Casey.” Along with other protesters, Hardy and Myers set up a tent in a ditch along the side of the road, despite an ordinance banning roadside tents passed by the McLennan County Commissioners Court in response to the protests. Initially, the local sheriff's department arrested 12 people for violating the ban but did not charge anyone with an offense. Then on April 14, 2006, “about 40 protesters returned to Camp Casey I to again engage in civil disobedience to challenge the ordinance prohibiting the setting up of a tent in a ditch,” according to the opinion. “The protesters believed that erecting tents in the ditches had significant symbolic meaning” representing the antiwar movement to the world. Sheriff's deputies arrested Hardy and Myers when they failed to obey orders to leave their tent. Authorities then charged Hardy and Myers with violating Texas Penal Code §42.03, which prohibits obstruction of a roadway. A jury found Hardy and Myers guilty of the offense. But in a 2-1 opinion, the 10th Court found insufficient evidence to support the convictions. “[T]he tent in the ditch,” the court stated, “was not an immediate potential obstruction because the tent was not in the roadway and there were no cars on the road. . . . As protesters, Hardy and Myers were required to restrain or limit their conduct to not obstruct the street or make passage unreasonably hazardous or inconvenient, and they complied with that by staying in the ditch on the day of the demonstration.” Chief Justice Tom Gray of the 10th Court dissented from the judgment without a written opinion.

-- Jonathan Fox