A Dakota Access pipeline protester hit with a charge three years after the 2016 demonstrations in North Dakota has been freed of the charges. A judge and prosecutors agreed the charges against Lawrence Malcolm Jr. had been filed past a two-year statute of limitations.
Prosecutors had accused the Sisseton, South Dakota man of being part of the 201 riot at the construction site of the pipeline. His defense attorney had argued that prosecutors waited too long to file the charge.
Earlier this month the judge dismissed a felony criminal mischief conspiracy charge against Malcolm for lack of probable cause. Malcolm was charged based on DNA from a cigarette butt left at the scene. His DNA was on file from a previous arrest.
An affidavit says more than 100 demonstrators halted construction and vandalized equipment during the protest on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
Source: Associated Press
