MINNEAPOLIS – Twin Cities activist Isabel Lopez faced the possibility of decades in prison after being accused of assaulting federal agents during an anti-immigration enforcement protest in south Minneapolis last summer. Yet with just weeks to go before trial, prosecutors downgraded her four felony charges to a single misdemeanor in return for Lopez’s guilty plea.
When she officially pleads later this month, Lopez will hand federal prosecutors their first conviction – albeit on reduced charges – against a Minnesota protester. In exchange, she’s expected to avoid prison time and a felony record.
Lopez’s case is the latest example of prosecutors downgrading or dropping charges against Minnesota-based protesters after publicly characterizing them as “violent agitators.” Three dozen were initially charged with assault, accused of crossing the line from protected speech into violence. Pam Bondi, U.S. attorney general at the time, posted some of the shackled defendants on social media during Operation Metro Surge…