Remember the 800 or so protesters arrested in September at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul? The vast majority will keep their records clean.
What's more, the final protest, with 396 people arrested on the last night of the convention, has yet to yield a single charge.
Evidence against many juveniles and journalists was never reviewed by prosecutors. Authorities have declined to prosecute 323 people arrested that night, and only about 20 cases could still yield charges, St. Paul City Attorney John Choi said Friday.
Choi said, however, that the decision to decline or dismiss a criminal case does not mean police acted inappropriately or did not have probable cause to make an arrest.
"There was a lot of confusion for a lot of people that night. Ultimately, our decision reflects our prosecution standard, which is, 'Can we prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial?' " Choi said. "We've come to the conclusion that for the cases involving the Marion Street Bridge and the Cedar Street Bridge, that would not be the case."
Overall, the city attorney's office has reviewed about 670 convention-related cases and has brought charges in about 104 of them -- or about 15 percent. Choi broke down the numbers this way:
• 52 cases have been resolved by either a guilty plea or payment of a fine.
• Arrest warrants have been issued in 12 cases because the defendant failed to show up for his or her court date.
