In L.A., federal prosecutors are charging more protesters. A surprising number of cases are falling apart.

Source: NBC News

Nov. 8, 2025, 7:00 AM EST


LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have taken a hard line against alleged violence at protests, charging nearly 100 protesters since June in cases that could result in long prison sentences. But a fifth of those cases have been dismissed or resulted in acquittals in what some former federal prosecutors and free speech advocates say is a rare rebuke of the U.S. attorney’s office’s mission and credibility.

After tens of thousands of people flooded the streets in June and October during “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration, at least 20 of 97 federal cases filed against Los Angeles protesters since June have failed in court, according to records provided to NBC News by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Eighteen of those cases were dismissed and two ended in acquittals. Experts weren’t able to provide an average number of cases but said the recent rate of unsuccessful ones seemed high.

Last week, Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced charges against 12 defendants stemming from June 8 protests across Southern California. The defendants were charged in a single complaint with obstructing, impeding and interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder, according to the Department of Justice.

BC News spoke with four former federal prosecutors who all said that in their experience, protest cases on the federal level were not common before this year. Instead, prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office typically focus on high-level crimes such as human and drug trafficking, corruption and white-collar offenses.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-federal-prosecutors-protesters-los-angeles-dismissed-rcna241590