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Arata’s attorneys seek to give SLO County prosecutors the boot

November 18, 2020

By KAREN VELIE

In the latest move in an unusually crude legal battle, attorneys for Black Lives Matter protester Tianna Arata accuse San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow of violating his legal duties while attempting to promote his political career, according to a motion filed on Tuesday.

The motion seeks to disqualify the SLO County District Attorney’s Office from the case. If Arata’s attorneys Patrick Fisher and Curtis Briggs are successful, the California Attorney General’s Office will step in and prosecute the case.

In the motion, the attorneys claim Dow’s Christian faith and conservative political leanings motivated him to target their client.

“On Sept. 2, Dan Dow ignored the illegal actions of every White motorist, and filed charges solely against Ms. Arata, under a theory she was responsible for the actions of all of the protesters,” the lawsuit says. “In response, hundreds of members of the public rallied outside the courthouse in support of Ms. Arata.”

Briggs also accuses Dow and his investigator Michael L’Heureux of participating in a criminal conspiracy that includes destroying evidence and filing false police reports, according to Briggs’ declaration.

On July 21, Arata allegedly led approximately 300 protesters onto Highway 101, blocking all lanes in both directions for nearly an hour. While on the highway, protesters ran after vehicles attempting to drive off the freeway, blocked vehicles, and yelled profanities at some of the drivers, according to videos of the protest.

Prosecutors filed 13 misdemeanor charges against Arata: one count of unlawful assembly, one count of disturbing the peace, six counts of obstruction of a thoroughfare, and five counts of false imprisonment.

Shortly after her arrest, Arata and her supporters took to social media with false claims that she was in jail and facing 15 years in prison. Protesters also accused several white drivers of being the aggressors.

Arata was booked and released, but during dozens of protests that followed, her supporters chanted for her release. On social media, protesters asked those who support equality to contact prosecutors and order them to drop the charges or they will get no peace.

Photo by Richard Bastian

On the other side, law enforcement agencies asked the community, through posts on social media, to help identify a protester who threw his skateboard through the back window of a car, shattering glass on a four-year-old boy.

In another Facebook post, the SLO Police Department asks anyone who observed property damage or other potential crimes to contact investigators.

In early October, Arata’s attorneys filed a motion seeking a gag order on both the California Highway Patrol and the San Luis Obispo Police Department, to bar them from talking to the media or posting on social media about the case, along with a motion for a dismissal.

However, San Luis Obispo County Court Judge Mathew Guerrero continued the hearing because of issues with the filings.

Both the CHP and the California Attorney General questioned the timeliness of the motion for a gag order. In addition, Fisher’s motion to dismiss the case was not properly served on the CHP or the city.

Guerrero continued the hearing to Dec. 3, when he is also set to rule on the motion to disqualify the SLO County District Attorney’s Office.


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This is what happens when everyone gets a trophy


96

If Arata wants to improve our community, why does she want to drag this out and cost the taxpayers of SLO county more money for this pathetic court challenges? I don’t believe she has good intentions for SLO county period!


65

The real scam is her lawyers keep delaying justice wonder why ? maybe it is because she and her co-conspirator’s all caught on video, did the crimes they are accused of ? Why delay justice do you have something you want to hide or conceal from the public.


I smell a dirty little fish , let we the people see the case go to trial after all it is a Public/Zoom Trial so stop hiding allow the Jury see and decide the fate of those who factual broke many laws, interfered in stopping people from going about there daily business. Causing destruction, vandalism, threats of violence. Remember she hates America, she hates white people and yet she is white 50% her mother is 100% White.


She boosts she is a Christian yet says F??? your White Christian Comfort, her mother said she is Shinto ? what ever that is, yet they live off the American Tax Payer as do the lawyers.


61

…and it wasn’t that she just was “caught” on video. She filmed herself and posted it!


5

He “ignored the illegal actions of every White motorist”? The Motorists that were just trying to legally drive on the freeway? Those Motorists? If someone breaking the criminal code causes me to break the vehicle code who is at fault?


67

Their lawsuit makes zero sense. Dow obviously was not present, so for him to ignore illegal actions by “every White motorist”, he would have to received criminal complaints from the police about these other illegal actions and ignored them. Is there any evidence of that? Also, are they claiming only “white” motorists were committing these so called illegal actions and not drivers of other races, or are they claiming that only non-white motorists were cited? And isn’t singling out the race of these drivers itself a racist action? and why is white capitalized??


Their lawsuit is clearly a crazy hail mary not based on any actual reality, just like some other lawsuits in the news. They might as well have announced this lawsuit at Four Seasons Total Landscaping!


8

This is what you get with a politically partisan and ambitious DA … effectively no DA. Salaries spent for nothing. The press, the costs, all the March overtime salaries, just serving to enhance Tianna and rile up political bases, disgusting dumb. For impartial justice, I would not be surprised if this motion succeeds.


-72

What a complete circus this is. How embarrassing this must be to any competent attorney’s out there. The “Fisher & Briggs” hapless attorney circus is in town. The “big top” once again is filled with deceit, division, intolerance, hate, threats, irresponsibility, unaccountability, lies, and complete lack of respect and decency. The three rings are filled with clowns like Heidi Harmon, Tianna Arata, blm, and the attorney’s.


Mrs. Arata, you put yourself out there as the leader of a group of uncivil protester’s. Many of you broke the multiples laws. You have threatened innocent individuals, including children and a woman in labor. You were part of destructing private property. You marched the streets spewing hate-speech filled with profanity. You, and you alone, are responsible for the spot you find yourself in. To now cry out as a victim is laughable at best. You need to face the music so to speak and go through the legal process before you. If you so innocent as your circus attorney’s claim, then what are you afraid of? Your movement is a failed one. You have pushed more from you than you have drawn. It has not produced anything from your side but bigotry, destruction of any normal civility regarding protesting, and a deep division. What a complete joke.


63

Comical, at best.


72

Yes, it is and a waste of our much needed resources to protect the Public Health and Community shame on them for this scam.


Dan Dow is a man of immense ethics, Integrity and honor so is his office. You do the crime YOU do the TIME.


52

Wait, the same DA that let Chief Cantrell get away, let the officer who raped a woman get away, let Wallace firm off the hook, let his Undersherriff work drunk as coroner, allows evidence to be hidden during the dog shooting, the DA that ignored separation of church and state, the same DA that let Adam Hill get away, let John Peschong continue to have a political lobbying firm? The DA that ignored the Sherriffs jail fiasco? This false prophet DA whom makes 6 figures, that DA?


-30

Time to choose, equality or dividing people by race..white motorists, andusing race as an excuse. Cant have both.


47

I wish I had more faith in Guerrero, but his time on the OCSD proves he’s not worthy.


15

He will be fine, he is a judge who does not want to do any favors for Fisher or anyone


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