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Former NAACP head fighting trespass charge from arrest at General Assembly

Rev. William Barber, the former head of the state NAACP and architect of North Carolina's "Moral Monday" protests, hopes to persuade a jury to clear him of trespassing at the General Assembly, calling his 2017 arrest unconstitutional.

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By
Laura Leslie
, WRAL Capitol Bureau chief
RALEIGH, N.C. — Rev. William Barber, the former head of the state NAACP and architect of North Carolina's "Moral Monday" protests, hopes to persuade a jury to clear him of trespassing at the General Assembly, calling his 2017 arrest unconstitutional.

The trial in the case is expected to start Tuesday and last several days.

Barber was arrested two years ago during a protest calling for Medicaid expansion. He and others charged with second-degree trespassing – a Class 3 misdemeanor that carries up to 20 days in jail and a $200 fine – after refusing to leave the Legislative Building after they were told to leave by General Assembly Police.

Similar arrests occurred almost weekly from 2013 until last year during the Moral Monday demonstrations that protested actions by the Republican-controlled legislature. Hundreds of people were arrested, but many of the charges were later dropped.

Barber said Monday that he is taking his case to a jury because the state constitution spells out that citizens have a right to assemble and instruct their lawmakers.

"[The Legislative Building on] Jones Street is the people's house," he said. "Those are not private offices. That's not like your private business. You are there to do the work of the people, and the people have a constitutional command to come and instruct their legislators."

People in other states are allowed to gather and protest at their legislatures, he said, but North Carolina lawmakers have made increasingly strict rules to keep people from gathering in their building.

"There’s some places – Florida, Texas – people were there all day, up on the balconies, staying there all day and raising their voices," he said. "It’s an American right, and it seems that this legislature wants to shut that down."

Following his arrest, Barber was banned from going inside the Legislative Building as a condition of his release from jail. But a judge ended that ban in April.

Although the focus of the trial will be on him, Barber said the trial is about free speech and assembling in public spaces.

"It’s about people. It’s about my grandchildren. It’s about everybody’s grandchildren. It’s about even the people who may disagree with what we stand for," he said. "They should be agreeing with us and fighting for the right to stand and the right to speak."

Barber has since moved on from the NAACP to lead a national nonprofit advocacy group. But he still makes frequent appearances in Raleigh at events like last month's teacher rally and minimum-wage protests.

"When you raise those questions, they say you’re violating some speech code," he said. "The question is, what is the decibel level for free speech?"

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