A judge on Wednesday dismissed the charges against four people arrested during an NAACP event in July.
Those cases, along with two other protest cases, were heard in Alamance County District Court.
NAACP president Barrett Brown, Noah Read, Rev. Walter Allison and Amie Harrison were all arrested at the NAACP event on charges of misdemeanor resisting a public officer and misdemeanor impeding traffic by sitting/standing/lying in the roadway.
Video played in court showed that the place next to Graham's Confederate monument where all four defendants were standing didn't impede traffic, Judge Lunsford Long said. The defendants had been standing behind a barrier in an area inaccessible to vehicles, so Long dismissed the charges.
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Maurice Wells Jr. found guilty
Also on Wednesday, Long also heard a case stemming from an incident after a July 11 march. Maurice Wells Jr., who was arrested after that march, was found guilty of misdemeanor failure to disperse on command and misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
On that day, Rev. Gregory Drumwright organized a march that ended in Court Square in Graham. Once arriving in Court Square, attendees listened to speeches, and counter-protestors rang the large bell in Sesquicentennial Park during the speeches.
The event concluded before 3 p.m., the time the permit ended. After the large crowd dispersed, a smaller crowd that was estimated to be as many as 100 people gathered in Sesquicentennial Park. The group was made up of protestors and counter-protestors, who had previously been separated by police and barriers.
Witnesses testified in court that several people with the Black Lives Matter group rang the bell. In a video played in court, Wells can be shown singing the song, "Ring My Bell."
During the encounter, Wells used profanity, as is shown in the video and in court testimony.
Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson said he told Wells to leave the area and was afraid he would incite violence between the two groups gathered there.
"Son, quit ringing the bell, or you're going to jail," Johnson told Wells as per his testimony in court.
Wells failed to leave and was arrested.
The defense questioned the arrest for use of profanity, citing the first amendment. Wells' attorney, Elizabeth Haddix, also questioned why no one else had been arrested, as she said others were cursing and engaging in similar behavior to Wells. The judge said the sheriff was there and saw the body language and tone, so he was inclined to believe the sheriff's testimony that there was disorderly conduct.
The defense argued that no disperse order had been given, but the judge ruled an official disperse order to the whole group didn't have to be given for someone to be found guilty of failure to disperse.
Long sentenced Wells to a $100 fine plus court costs. Haddix said she plans to appeal the guilty ruling.
Kani Adon Bynum found guilty, not guilty
Another case heard Wednesday was that of Kani Adon Bynum, who was charged with misdemeanor simple assault and misdemeanor resisting a public officer.
His attorney, Meredith Cairo, initially requested that Long recuse himself as judge on this case because she felt Long last week had been unfair in hearing the case of Rion Thompson, one of her other clients.
Cairo said she thought the judge was biased in the last trial by suggesting evidence from prior trials be admitted without a prompt from the prosecutor, and she said she was cut off from being able to finish her closing statement and giving Thompson a full defense.
After reading the court transcripts, the judge said the request for him to recuse himself had no merit, and he denied that motion.
Bynum was arrested two different times last year, one of which was mistakenly under the name Kahi Adon. Due to time constraints, only one of these cases was heard Wednesday, and the other case will be heard at a later date.
The charges in question came during a protest on Sept. 23, in which Bynum had gathered with a group in Court Square.
Bynum described himself as a de-escalator and said he goes to protests to keep the peace and reason with counter-protestors.
During this event, Ryan Evans was filming the protestors. Evans said he was there to protect the county, "stand up for what's right" and help the sheriff's office.
Bynum saw Evans filming and said he moved the flag he was carrying to try to cover the faces of two women standing next to him. He thought Evans may be doxing, which means taking photos or video of protestors to distribute with the aim of potentially harming those people in the future.
Evans walked over near Bynum while filming on his phone and said Bynum hit him in the face with the flagpole he was holding.
Bynum testified that Evans had been swatting the air near the flag, and he thought he was trying to move it to see the women that Bynum was attempting to shield. Bynum and a witness said that because Evans appeared to be reaching for the flag, Bynum moved it away from his hand, which caused him to inadvertently hit Evans' phone. Bynum testified that he hadn't hit Evans in the face like Evans claimed and said he didn't mean to hit him at all.
After this confrontation, Evans told nearby police that Bynum had assaulted him. Police approached Bynum to speak with him. Cpl. John Hodge with the Graham Police Department testified that he and another officer approached Bynum asking to talk. Bynum said the only thing he heard was a suggestion to talk behind the building. This made him afraid, so he left the scene and proceeded toward his car, according to court testimony.
A group of eight to 10 other protestors surrounded the police, separating them from Bynum, and when police broke free, Bynum started running, he said in court. Bynum said he ran because he was afraid after the suggestion they talk behind the building. He also said he wanted to leave the scene because he realized the confrontation with Evans had escalated tensions, and he thought if he left, that would de-escalate the situation.
As police chased Bynum, Hodge said they told him he was under arrest and ordered him to stop. Bynum said he didn't hear officers say at any point that he was under arrest or that he needed to stop.
Once Bynum reached his car, he said he realized he shouldn't have run and got out of the car. At this point, he was placed under arrest, and both he and the officer testified that he didn't resist.
Hodge testified that he asked Bynum multiple times to get out of the car before he was placed under arrest.
After listening to court testimony, the judge found Bynum not guilty of simple assault, but guilty of resisting a public officer.
Bynum was sentenced on a prayer for judgement. This means Bynum wasn't given jail time or fines in this case apart from court costs, but he could face a delayed judgement if convicted on other charges in the future.
— Breaking news reporter Rachel Berry can be reached at rberry@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @racheldberry.
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Judge dismisses cases against 4, 2 others guilty in Graham protest trials
