Seven Black Lives Matter protesters cannot be prosecuted by the San Luis Obispo district attorney’s office because of statements made by the DA and his wife that indicate a conflict of interest, an appeals court ruled.

The Wednesday decision by the California Court of Appeals’ Second District upheld a county judge’s disqualification of Dan Dow and his office from prosecuting Tianna Arata — the 20-year-old de facto leader of a protest march on July 21, 2020 — and six other defendants.

Arata faced 13 misdemeanor counts, including obstruction of a thoroughfare, unlawful assembly and disturbing the peace, for the protest in which about 300 people ended up on Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo.

Her request that Dow’s office be disqualified hinged on public statements and appearances that she said proved the district attorney’s antipathy toward BLM protests. Among them:

• Dow’s post on Sept. 4, 2020 — the day the charges were filed against Arata — to the Facebook page of the conservative group PRotect Paso. Its members have denigrated the BLM movement, calling protesters “downright evil, no brains or souls,” and saying they will use their hunting skills to protect Dow.

• A fundraising email the same day by his wife, Wendy Dow, asking supporters on the occasion of her husband’s birthday to help him fight “the wacky defund the police movement and anarchist groups that are trying to undermine the rule of law.”

• Dow’s appearances with Candace Owens at an event where she called BLM “one of the most racistmovements that ever existed in this country” and with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, who has described BLM as a Marxist group that promotes “cop killings, prostitution, anti-Semitism, anarchy, and the suppression of speech and religion.”

The appellate court’s decision said: “We emphasize the District Attorney did not cede his rights to freedom of speech and association when he entered public office. … His exercising of these rights, however, cannot deprive those he prosecutes of their own right to a fundamentally fair trial.”

The three-judge panel said it would accept the lower court’s December 2020 judgment that the DA’s office was not likely to treat the protesters fairly.

Dow told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that he is considering appealing the ruling to the California Supreme Court.

Related Articles

• Crime and Public Safety |
  Anonymous anti-LGBTQ, anti-BLM campaign fliers posted in South Bay