Contributing writer Clint Combs reports on the collapse of federal charges against Isabel Lopez, an Aztec dancer and poet whose four felony assault charges were reduced to a misdemeanor after prosecutors alleged she attacked federal agents during a June 2025 protest in south Minneapolis, with Judge John Tunheim rejecting a year of probation and closing the case with a $25 court fee.
The criminal case against Isabel Lopez fell apart.
Earlier this month, prosecutors reduced four felony charges to a misdemeanor assault charge in exchange for a guilty plea. Last Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim rejected a prosecutor’s request for a year of probation, instead ordering Lopez to pay a small mandatory court fee.
Lopez joins a growing list of protesters whose charges have been dropped or reduced after federal prosecutors alleged assaults against federal agents based on limited evidence…