Jay Yoder, one of more than a dozen Pittsburgh protesters facing refiled charges in relation to a confrontation between Pittsburgh Police and marchers during a 2020 protest, has been acquitted.

Yoder is using the legal victory to criticize the Allegheny County District Attorney and to reaffirm opinions that protesters had their civil rights violated during a Black Lives Matter protest where police fired pepper spray, tear gas and sponge rounds at a group of about 100 marchers.

However, the DA’s office defends its refiling of those cases against protesters, saying that new evidence was obtained — including camera footage — that provided more than sufficient probable cause to move forward.

Yoder appears to be the only person among the 10 facing refiled charges for events on June 1 to be found not guilty so far. Another four were either found guilty or pleaded guilty to downgraded summary charges, three appear to have their records cleared, and one pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.

Yoder, of Morningside, was one of 22 people initially charged by police during a Black Lives Matter protest on June 1, 2020, in East Liberty.

About three weeks after the East Liberty protest, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. dropped all the charges, saying there wasn’t enough evidence at the time to support them. However, after a January 2021 announcement from Zappala, Yoder was among 10 who that had their charges refiled, with many facing misdemeanors like failure to disperse upon official order.

Yoder was are part of a class-action lawsuit against police and the City of Pittsburgh for alleged police brutality against protesters on June 1, 2020.

Now, Yoder felt vindicated for sticking with a defense.

“The police swept up a bunch of people in the arrests, they tear gassed and they scared people to go home. The mayor at the time supported the police and the DA pressed charges just to scare us,” said Yoder. “It was a chilling precedent against free speech, and I wanted to send a message to the DA that something needs to change in our policing and criminal justice system.”

Yoder was found not guilty on April 13 by Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Satler during a nonjury trial for misdemeanor charges of failure to disperse upon official order and disorderly conduct - unreasonable noise.

Brian McDermott, Yoder’s criminal defense lawyer, said there was no basis for Yoder’s criminal charges, and that led to the acquittal. He said the charges were a “clear case of retaliation.”

He said Yoder’s case turned out differently than the other refiled charges cases because his client fought the charges all the way through. He said for one of the charges, disorderly conduct - unreasonable noise, the prosecution couldn’t prove the volume of Yoder’s speech and had no evidence.

McDermott said an offer to downgrade Yoder’s charges to summary offenses was made, but praises Yoder for maintaining their innocence.

Yoder criticized Zappala after being acquitted.

Yoder is part of a federal class-action lawsuit against Pittsburgh Police and city officials, alleging the police participated in “escalating a peaceful protest into a scene of pandemonium, panic, violence, and bloodshed” for their actions on June 1, 2020, in East Liberty.

Christine Elzer, a civil rights attorney representing Yoder and others in the suit, said Yoder’s acquittal confirms that police subjected protesters to an unconstitutional dispersal order and didn’t have probable cause to arrest them or the others arrested on June 1.

Gainey press secretary Maria Montaño said the administration cannot provide comment at this time given pending litigation.

Zappala spokesperson Mike Manko defended the DA’s process of dropping the cases and then refiling later, saying that there wasn’t enough evidence in 2020, but that more became available later to warrant charges.

“Following a review by Pittsburgh Police and our office, the decision was made to refile on a select number of cases using body cam footage, surveillance camera footage and other investigative tools,” said Manko.

A review of 10 of the refiled cases stemming from the events of June 1 shows that Yoder is the only one to be found not guilty so far. For four of the cases, defendants were initially charged with misdemeanors, but they eventually were found guilty or pleaded guilty to summary disorderly conduct and paid small fines.

Three others appear to have had their records cleared, but pleaded to summary charges in exchange for community service. Only one, Byron Stevens, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to nine months probation. One case is still unresolved and still awaiting a preliminary hearing.

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