ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A judge in Orange County ordered that two men be released from jail on their own recognizance, about 24 hours after they were arrested for using chalk to cover the crosswalk outside the site of the former Pulse Nightclub.
James Houchins, 28, and Austin Trahan, 29, were arrested Sunday by Florida Highway Patrol, who charged them with felony criminal mischief.
The judge, however, reduced the severity of the charge after only finding probable cause for criminal mischief as a misdemeanor.
The arrests marked the latest chapter in an ongoing saga that has pitted a small contingent of protesters against the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Florida Highway Patrol (FHP).
Earlier this year, employees with the FDOT stripped the crosswalk of its rainbow colors, which were installed after the mass shooting at Pulse.
Protesters like Houchins and Trahan treated that decision as an opening salvo in what’s resulted in an ongoing back-and-forth that is now approaching 100 days. Protesters have defied signs that warn people not to “deface” the crosswalk, covering it with chalk, before FDOT inevitably returns to wash off the colors.
Rinse. Repeat.
Houchins recently sent News 6 videos of FDOT employees removing protesters’ flags and signs, as well.
The statute cited in the defendants’ criminal complaints is F.S. 316.0775, which stipulates that it is a crime to interfere with a traffic control device.
The definition of a traffic control device has been a recurring element fueling the tension, as FDOT and FHP have argued that a crosswalk is a traffic control device, while protesters and their lawyer have maintained the crosswalk is an extension of the sidewalk and is thus a space where protesters can express their free speech without fear of reprisal.
Blake Simons—who represented four other protesters arrested for allegedly defacing the crosswalk earlier this year—appeared in court Monday for Houchins’ and Trahan’s first appearances.
Appearing first alongside Trahan, Simons argued that there was no probable cause for the arrests Sunday.
“No reasonable prudent person would also believe that it is probable that water-soluble chalk would cause over $1,000 in damage,” Simons argued. “FDOT’s trying to fabricate a crime out of nothing.”
Simons’ argument was partially successful, given the fact that the judge did not find probable cause for criminal mischief at a felony level.
In Simons’ prior cases related to the crosswalk, a judge found probable cause for three arrests but determined there was no probable cause in a fourth case.
As of Monday afternoon, FDOT and FHP had not answered News 6’s questions about the arrests or the roles both agencies are playing at the crosswalk.
Last Monday, a spokesperson with FHP told News 6 that troopers had not been stationed at the crosswalk “for several weeks.”
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