Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas call the criminal case against the leaders of PRO Gainesville, a local grassroots organization, a “pivotal case for free speech rights in Texas,” according to a news release this week.
It’s a case that they claim could set a dangerous precedent for Texans who value free speech to fight for an inclusive future.
This misdemeanor obstruction case hinges on whether Torrey Henderson, Amara Ridge and Denton resident Justin Thompson, leaders of PRO Gainesville, had obstructed traffic on California Street in downtown Gainesville for brief delays as marchers crossed the road on a 10-minute march in 2022, according to Wednesday’s petition for discretionary review to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
“It concerns whether protesters can move along public streets without facing jail time and whether organizers of peaceful protests can be held criminally responsible for the words and actions of other participants,” said Savannah Kumar, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas. “We are asking the highest criminal court of Texas to take this case and reaffirm that Texans cannot be convicted for simply walking in a street.”
Henderson, Ridge and Thompson were convicted of obstructing traffic, a Class B misdemeanor, in August 2022 and sentenced to seven days in jail and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. The 7th Court of Appeals in Amarillo upheld their convictions in November 2023.
Edgar Saldivar, an ACLU of Texas senior staff attorney, said it was the first time that they’ve seen “people engaging in a peaceful protest where they are not obstructing any traffic and not blocking any cars and the first time that we have ever heard of a crime while engaging in First Amendment activity.
Saldivar said Henderson, Ridge and Thompson and about 30 or 40 other people who had joined them “were constantly moving and not blocking a roadway for traffic” on the 10-minute march.
The obstruction occurred when an unidentified bicyclist stopped in front of a driver, which caused her to stop for 29 seconds as marchers crossed the street, according to the ACLU’s petition.
As for the other incident, a Gainesville police officer had testified at the August 2022 trial that he had allowed protesters to walk briefly in the street when they encountered a large puddle of water. The petition quotes the officer as saying, “Some marchers stayed on the sidewalk, some on the shoulder and some in the roadway.”
“The record contains no evidence that any appellant, much less all three, caused a car to stop during their continuous march,” ACLU attorneys wrote.
ACLU attorneys further argued that the court incorrectly found that Henderson, Ridge and Thompson had knowingly or intentionally obstructed a passageway by relying on evidence that police had told some protesters to move off the street.
“The court also impermissibly ascribed the actions of unidentified marchers to appellants and found that appellants had a culpable mental state based on the actions and words of others,” ACLU attorneys said. “The First Amendment prohibits imposing liability on lawful protesters based on the actions of others at a protest.”
Saldivar said it could be weeks or months before the ACLU learns whether Texas’ highest criminal court will review the case.
Henderson and Ridge couldn’t be reached by Friday morning. Thompson, who lives in Denton, spoke with the Denton Record-Chronicle on Thursday afternoon and said that PRO Gainesville protesters had been demonstrating for several months in Gainesville in 2020.
They were attempting to get city and county leaders to remove two Confederate monument statues, one from the Cooke County Courthouse lawn in downtown Gainesville and the other from Leonard Park off California Street.
PRO Gainesville was founded in 2020 to advocate for equality and racial justice, Henderson said in the news release.
“Just as Martin Luther King, Jr. and millions of Americans before us have marched on the streets to advocate for a better world, we too marched peacefully in Gainesville to call for the removal of a Confederate monument on the courthouse lawn. We should not be facing jail time for exercising our constitutional rights to march and protest,” Henderson said in the release.
“I marched peacefully for a more just and equal world for my children to grow up in, and for that, I was scapegoated and criminalized,” Ridge said in the release.
In the summer of 2020, protests calling for the removal of Confederate monuments took place in North Texas and around the country. That May, George Floyd had been murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer. Floyd’s death would lead to people around the world obstructing traffic by taking to the streets to demand equal civil rights and police reform as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In Denton, protesters gathered on the Courthouse on the Square lawn, marching in the streets to call for police reform and the removal of the Confederate soldier monument from Denton’s downtown Square.
“I’ve never seen numbers like this, except for maybe after Charlottesville for two days,” civil rights activist Willie Hudspeth told the Record-Chronicle in June 2020. “This is unheard of, what I see now — because the people who are involved are determined, and I think it’s going to make a difference.”
It did make a difference and ended a nearly 20-year fight for Hudspeth. That June, Denton County commissioners voted to remove the Confederate soldier memorial from downtown.
In Gainesville, Henderson, Ridge, Thompson and other members of PRO Gainesville had been successful in convincing the City Council to remove the Confederate monument from the park. The council did so in a unanimous vote at a July 14, 2020, special meeting, according to the Gainesville Daily Register.
“We had good conversations with City Council and didn’t have to push that one too far,” Thompson said. “They acted swiftly.”
On Aug. 17, 2020, Cooke County commissioners took a different stance, however, in a 4-1 vote to keep the Confederate monument on the courthouse lawn.
Two weeks later, Thompson and others — not just with PRO Gainesville but also from surrounding communities, including Denton — gathered on the Cooke County Courthouse lawn for a peaceful 10-minute march on a Sunday evening in late August 2020.
They planned to walk east on the sidewalk down California Street, cross it at North Denton Street to walk west on the sidewalk down California Street and cross it again at North Dixon Street to end at the courthouse.
A few counterprotesters had also gathered. Thompson said they stood along the sidewalks and watched them.
Thompson said they were constantly attempting to work with law enforcement and “make sure everything was orderly at all of our marches.” Gainesville police, he said, were with them during the short march in late August 2020.
Three days after the march, Thompson said, they learned there was a warrant for their arrest. They had been charged with obstructing traffic, which includes up to 180 days in jail and up to a $2,000 fine if convicted. They turned themselves in at the Cooke County Jail in Gainesville but were able to post bail shortly thereafter.
Gainesville police argued that along with disobeying police commands, Thompson and the others didn’t have a permit to walk in the street.
After a jury convicted Henderson, Ridge and Thompson, Gainesville Police Chief Kevin Phillips told KXII-TV news in August 2022: “Once again, we think this sends a message to the community that law and order still stands in Gainesville and Cooke County.”
Saldivar from the ACLU said it’s another example that underscores why this case is so important for Americans.
“It is our fundamental right as an American to engage in peaceful protest, and we’re allowed to do that on public streets because they belong to the people,” Saldivar said. “The march they were engaged in is part of a long history of peaceful marches.”