14 Who Tried to Lower Confederate Flag Ask Judge to Dismiss Charges

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The president of the Alabama NAACP and 13 other black legislators asked a judge Friday to dismiss trespassing charges stemming from their attempt to remove the Confederate flag from the Capitol dome.

Defense attorneys invoked claims of legislative immunity from such misdemeanor charges and said state historians, not Republican Gov. Guy Hunt, had jurisdiction to order any arrests while the Capitol is being renovated.

Prosecutors did not comment on the defense claims at the brief hearing before District Judge Craig Miller, who withheld a ruling pending the filing of further briefs.

Thomas Reed, a legislator and state president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, vowed for weeks to remove the flag on Feb. 2 after the Legislature opened. The feat would require climbing an 8-foot chain-link fence, entering the locked building, climbing an inner stairwell to the white dome and taking the banner off a staff.

Arrests Had Been Threatened

Hunt had said that anyone who made such an attempt would be arrested.

Minutes after the Legislature’s opening gavel, state policemen pulled down Reed and others as they made at least symbolic efforts to scale the fence. They never got near the building, and the flag still flies atop the Capitol dome.

Each lawmaker was charged with second-degree criminal trespassing. Conviction carries a maximum penalty of three months in jail and a $500 fine.

Defense attorney Fred Gray said the legislators may not be prosecuted for their attempt to climb the fence because the Alabama Constitution provides immunity from arrest for lawmakers while the Legislature is in session.

The NAACP says the flag is a racist symbol of oppression.