After more than a month of witness testimony and disputes over admissible evidence, the jury in the trial of three New Era Cleveland activists returned a not guilty verdict on all counts Monday afternoon.
As the 15 not guilty verdicts in the trial of Antoine Tolbert, Austreeia Everson and Rameer Askew were read to a court packed with their supporters, some audience members began sobbing quietly.
Tolbert, who faced 8 felony charges and years in prison, described hearing the verdict read as an out-of-body experience.
“Oh man, this is my first real breath in over 365 days, I’ve been holding my breath since Aug. 14 of last year,” Tolbert said.
Tolbert was arrested one year ago during a dispute with gas station owners on Cleveland’s East Side and was charged with several felonies, including extortion and aggravated menacing. Jurors agreed with the defense argument that the dispute was the basis of a boycott and not the prosecution’s description of extortion.
“Just ask yourselves, go back there and ask yourselves is there anyone who believes the state proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt?” lead defense attorney Peter Pattakos said during closing arguments on Aug. 7. “[Did they] prove that Tolbert and Everson and Askew actually had criminal intent as opposed to the legitimate, lawful intent to take the actions that they took in pursuit of their mission?”
Tolbert was charged with extortion, aggravated robbery, aggravated riot, breaking and entering, aggravated menacing and intimidation. Several of the charges included gun specifications which add years to prison sentences.
Askew was charged with aggravated robbery and kidnapping for attempting a citizen’s arrest with Tolbert of an alleged drug dealer who was selling marijuana to a 13-year-old.
Everson was charged with extortion, intimidation of a victim or witness and aggravated menacing for attempting to reach an agreement with the station owners immediately after Tolbert’s arrest.
Everson is Tolbert’s domestic partner and the president of New Era. Askew will start his second year at Cleveland State University later this month, where he’s studying organizational leadership. This case will not change their tactics, said Askew.
“It just gave me a glimpse of this side of the work and how the system works against us and not for us,” Askew said. “I didn’t know what to expect, especially how they tried to paint a picture of us, calling us ‘masterminds’ and ‘gangbangers.’”
The jury took about a day of deliberations to return not guilty verdicts on all counts. Outside the Justice Center in Downtown Cleveland, supporters chanted “New Era” while a couple of jurors stopped to chat with Askew, Everson and Tolbert on their way home.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
