Muddy clothes? ‘Cop City’ activists question police evidence

By R.J. RICO
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Civil liberties groups and defense attorneys are outraged at the domestic terrorism charges that have been levied against 23 people who were arrested after a masked group attacked an Atlanta-area police training center construction site. The suspects were taken into custody March 5 at a music festival about three-quarters of a mile away, more than an hour after the violence occurred. Critics have accused officials of levying disproportionate charges to scare off others from joining the “Stop Cop City” movement. Authorities say many of the suspects had muddy clothes from crossing a creek and hiking through the woods. But defense attorneys say that’s a ridiculous argument since they were arrested at the site of a muddy music festival where it had rained two days earlier.