Charges against pro-Palestinian protester dismissed
Aug 8, 2025, 8:00 PM
A sign near the northwest corner of Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park welcomes visitors on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. (Ravell Call, Deseret News)
(Ravell Call, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Charges against the organizer of a pro-Palestinian protest have been dropped after she was accused of not stopping for a police officer last May.
Liz Maryon was following a police officer’s commands to move during a peaceful pro-Palestinian protest at Pioneer Park, when another officer who recognized her called her by name.
“I had no reason to think that he was trying to arrest me, so I kept walking back to the park as the previous officer had ordered us to do,” said Maryon.
Eight months later she was slapped with three charges, failure to stop for a police officer, disorderly conduct, and walking in the road.
The ACLU got involved saying that Maryon was exercising her First Amendment right to walk there during a protest.
Now after a preliminary hearing , Maryon’s charges have been dismissed.
“They didn’t really have any other choice than to drop these charges because they were a clear violation of first amendment rights and we know that going into this. And because we were willing to fight the charges we were able to defend them,” said Maryon.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says his office dismissed the charges because they didn’t think there was enough evidence to move forward.
“If you are going to charge people on conduct then those have specific elements that need specific evidence,” said Gill.
Gill said they support first amendment rights, as long as people follow the law.
“We have constitutional rights so engage in public protests but that doesn’t mean people may not be able to also engage in subsequent criminal misconduct,” said Gill.
