Protesters cleared after putting Klan hoods on State Capitol statue

According to police, Enzo Niebuhr and Jody Anderson climbed onto the North Carolina Women of Confederacy monument along East Edenton Street on April 21 and covered the heads of the figures in the statue with white hoods. They were charged with defacing a public monument and disorderly conduct.

Both chanted "racist statues have to go" and used profanities, according to arrest warrants. Video posted to the Smash Racism Raleigh Twitter page showed Niebuhr and Anderson being arrested and a police officer removing the hoods from the statue.

State Capitol Police Officer Dustin Dobson testified during Niebuhr's and Anderson's trial that there were about a dozen protestors around the Confederate monument.

In addition to climbing on and putting hoods on the statue, Dobson said Niebuhr and Anderson also cursed loudly as families with children passed nearby. He said that created a safety issue.

"As long as you are not yelling it and [are] using it in your own private conversation, I don’t have a problem with it," he said.

But defense Attorney Scott Holmes argued that the chants and profanity were protected speech. He also said the hoods didn't damage the monument.

"If you saw a person putting a wreath on those monuments, would you arrest them?" Holmes asked.

"They didn’t do anything wrong," Dobson replied.

After lamenting the lack of civility in political discourse in the country, District Judge William Lawton dismissed the charges against the two protestors.

"Fighting racism could never be a crime in any legal system worth following," Anderson said after the case. "We knew this was going to be the result if the legal system was correct, and that's what we found out in this case today."