Following three misdemeanor charges by Gwinnett County against journalist Mario Guevara, the Gwinnett County Solicitor General’s office has announced those charges have been dropped.
Guevara was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) covering a June protest in DeKalb County. Days later, Gwinnett took out warrants of unlawful use of a telecommunication device, failure to obey a traffic control device, and reckless driving in connection to Guevara’s filming of an ICE operation on May 20.
The DeKalb County charges were dropped on June 25.
He was granted a bond of $7,500 by Gwinnett on July 1, and now the Gwinnett charges have been dropped.
“The first two charges are being dismissed due to a lack of legal sufficiency,” Gwinnett County Solicitor General Lisamarie N. Bristol said in a release. “The third alleged infraction occurred while Mr. Guevara was operating his vehicle and simultaneously broadcasting live … while there was probably cause to support the issuance of warrants, upon further investigation there is insufficient evidence to obtain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The first two charges of reckless driving and unlawful use of a telecommunication device were dropped due to the fact that the violations cannot be charged on private property. Guevara was on the private property of an apartment complex at the time.
In recent days, the Associated Press has reported that when Guevara’s family attempted to pay the $7,500 bond, ICE did not accept it and he has since been “shuffled between three other jails.”
An immigration judge agreed with Guevara’s lawyers that he is not a danger to the community, but ICE reportedly argued that he’s such a threat he should not be released according to Guevara’s attorney.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has spoken out against the detention, with CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen saying they are “dismayed.”
“We are dismayed that immigration officials have decided to ignore a federal immigration court order last week granting bail to journalist Mario Guevara,” Jacobsen said. “Guevara is currently the only jailed journalist in the United States who was arrested in relation to his work. Immigration authorities must respect the law and release him on bail instead of bouncing him from one jurisdiction to another.”
Fox5 Atlanta reports that Guevara is still in ICE custody in Floyd County despite the charges in Gwinnett and DeKalb being dropped.
