SLO activist Tianna Arata delays hearing, as second protester enters plea
Prominent local Black Lives Matter organizer Tianna Arata made her first court appearance via Zoom conference Thursday morning, just hours after the District Attorney’s Office filed 13 misdemeanors against her and three charges including a felony against fellow protester Elias Bautista.
Both are facing charges related to a July 21 protest-turned-march in which demonstrators, allegedly led by Arata, blocked traffic on Highway 101 for roughly an hour.
She has emerged as one of the leaders of numerous protests over the past three months demanding racial and social justice.
A crowd of several hundred people began showing up to the building on Monterey Street at about 7 a.m., and a rally featuring Arata and supporters of Bautista held a large crowd late into the morning.
A second protest was scheduled for 5:30 p.m. later Thursday evening.
Arata entered no plea at her hearing before Superior Court Judge Matthew Guerrero, who scheduled a further arraignment for Sept. 17 to allow defense attorney Patrick Fisher time to file motions in the case.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Muscari made no objection to continuing the hearing.
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Arata, 20, was charged late Wednesday with 13 misdemeanor counts, including five counts of false imprisonment, six counts of obstruction of a thoroughfare, one count of unlawful assembly, and one count of disturbing the peace by loud noise.
During the virtual hearing, Arata spoke only to acknowledge that she understands the charges against her.
She had been released on zero bail a few hours after her arrest and is not in custody.
Bautista, 23, pleaded not guilty to one felony count of resisting a peace officer and two misdemeanor counts of resisting, obstructing, or delaying a peace officer.
Bautista is due back in court for a pre-preliminary hearing Sept. 14 after posting $50,000 bail.
The hearing was live-streamed on slo.courts.ca.gov and broadcast on loudspeakers to the crowd outside.
Arata says she’s ‘going to get though it’
Shortly after the hearings, Arata and her mother, Michelle Arata, went to the San Luis Obispo County courthouse to thank their supporters.
“I don’t wish a court case on anybody,” Arata said to the crowd. “It’s the most disruptive thing to somebody’s lifestyle, especially to somebody who just started school at their new university.”
“Its difficult, but I’m going to get through it,” she added.
Earlier, protest speakers opened the event with a moment of silence for Dijon Kizzee, a Black man who was shot by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday.
“It really warms my heart that we in this town of San Luis Obispo still have a community that comes together and when they’re called, they show up,” Melissa Elizalde with the #FreeTianna Coalition said at the protest.
Another speaker, LeiYahna Jefferson, was hit but not injured by a motorcyclist who sped through an intersection on Osos Street during a protest Wednesday. The Police Department says it’s investigating the motorcycle incident, but no arrest had been made as of Thursday.
Although Arata was not charged with any felonies, as the San Luis Obispo Police Department had recommended, Jefferson said all charges against the activist should be dropped.
“To me, it doesn’t make any difference. They say it’s better, but I still feel like Dan Dow is trying to charge (Tianna) with anything they can right now,” Jefferson said. “At the end of the day, I don’t care what they file. I’m still going to take it to the streets.”
The courthouse plaza began to thin out after Arata and her mother spoke, but at least 200 stayed behind to chant and dance on the grass to a live D.J.
San Luis Obispo police had placed barricades blocking Monterey Street from Santa Rosa to Osos streets hours before the event.
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Inside the San Luis Obispo County courthouse, a few dozen attorneys and court staff went about business as usual though San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputies had a larger than usual presence inside. Very few, if any, protesters entered the building.
The relative calm inside the courthouse lobby was broken only briefly when the few visitors opened the front door, sending the sound of the crowd outside echoing off the lobby walls.
Support for Bautista
Bautista was caught on video moments after Arata’s arrest on July 21 being thrown to the ground, then kicking an officer and running off. Bautista (who goes by the pronouns “they/them”) previously told The Tribune their actions were “a response to trauma” after witnessing Arata carried away into a police cruiser.
Joseph Powell, a friend of Bautista who goes by JP, spoke at the event and called not only for the charges to be dropped but for an end to policing and the prison system.
“Today is going to be a tough day. Today is going to be a long day,” Powell said to the crowd. “We got a better future out there. In the words of abolition: We want to get rid of all that nonsense, like the police, the prison system. We want to get rid of all that nonsense.”
He later told The Tribune that he was discouraged by local prosecutors’ decision but pleased by Thursday’s turnout.
“I think the crowd has been great. I think a lot of wonderful people have come out and helped out and are enjoying themselves through some really tough times,” he said. “But it’s important that that happens.”
JP said the group will gather at the same spot at his friend’s next court date and in the meantime has several events planned for community outreach such as food and basic goods drives, one of which was held at Mitchell Park the previous Saturday.
“We’re going to keep it going, keep it going strong,” JP said. “Because we can do what the police think that they’re doing. We can do it ourselves.”
Protesters call for charges to be dropped
Since Arata and Bautista’s arrests more than a month ago, many protests have followed with a focus on demanding charges against the two activists be dropped.
Arata’s arrest garnered national attention in August — which brought the national Black Lives Matter chapter to San Luis Obispo for a news conference featuring speeches from Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and actor Kendrick Sampson.
Local Black Lives Matter organizers also attempted to deliver a petition with more than 500,000 signatures to the DA’s Office on Tuesday but were turned away.
So they decided to mail the signatures and hold a last-minute march Thursday from the courthouse to the post office.
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The San Luis Obispo Police Department had recommended a total of eight charges against Arata: four felony counts of false imprisonment; one felony count of conspiracy; and three misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing a peace officer, participating in a riot and unlawful assembly.
Instead, following a weeks-long review, the District Attorney’s Office filed the 13 misdemeanor charges but no felonies, which one of Arata’s attorneys called a win.
“First of all, we won because she’s not facing prison time,” Curtis Briggs said Wednesday night. “And this is absolutely not what the police chief requested. We’ve been saying the whole time she wasn’t guilty of anything. This shows that the district attorney likely just gave into political pressure and charged her with something.”
Briggs said their priority had been to prevent Arata from facing felonies.
“With misdemeanors, we still get a jury trial so we can get all of the publicity that we would have gotten with a felony with none of the risk,” he said. “This is an opportunity to help magnify a problem with police misconduct.”
NAACP says ‘we will journey through this difficult time together’
In between the morning and evening rallies, the San Luis Obispo chapter of the NAACP issued a statement saying the organization stands “in support with our local, nonviolent youth movement on their path to bring forth law and order with justice and equal application for all in America.”
The chapter said that based on the Police Department’s news releases, San Luis Obispo police confirmed that Arata’s arrest “was calculated and executed according to a preconceived plan.”
“At demonstrations in the past, the police blocked demonstrators from entry to the freeway,” the statement says. “This suggests the police entrapped the protester with the key focus to arrest Ms. Arata, derail the youth movement, and block the quest for justice and equality.”
The statement continues: “We share the frustration and pain caused by our community’s law enforcement’s inability to deeply listen and respond to our concerns — and their apparent desire to stop and silence the movement towards equality.”
Despite its thoughts on the arrests, the NAACP says it recognizes this moment “as a chance to lean into hope and create an opportunity to learn and grow together,” and encouraged participation in the 5:30 p.m. rally “to honor and celebrate our local youth movement.”
“We will journey through this difficult time together and allow it to bring us closer and propel us forward on our path to a brighter future,” the NAACP said.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 8:13 AM.
