A jury in Washington, D.C. acquitted six people on all counts of rioting and property destruction charges during President Donald Trump's inauguration, according to the Washington Examiner.
The six were part of a mass arrest after police chased an anti-capitalism march through Washington's downtown. Prosecutors admitted that they did not have any evidence that any of the six had committed vandalism, the Examiner reported.
Prosecutors said the defendants helped others vandalize property as part of a "sea of black masks" in the anti-capitalism march, the Examiner report said.
The U.S. Attorney's office said it would continue prosecuting defendants.
"We appreciate the jury's close examination of the individual conduct and intent of each defendant during this trial and respect its verdict. In the remaining pending cases, we look forward to the same rigorous review for each defendant," the prosecutor's office said, according to the Examiner.
An American Civil Liberties Union attorney said he hoped the U.S. Attorney's Office drops the charges against other defendants.
One juror outside the courtroom told two of the defendants they should have been applauded instead of prosecuted, the Examiner reported.
"The jury as a whole believes it's a legal act to attend a protest where vandalism occurs," the juror said, according to the Examiner.
"There was no significant evidence in my mind other than the attendance of the defendants at the rally," the juror said in the report.
The six defendants volunteered to be in the first group to go on trial. Each faced five charges of felony destruction of property, a felony riot-inducement charge and misdemeanors for allegedly rioting and conspiring to riot, according to a November report in the Examiner.
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