Orlando advocates at Pulse Aug. 21. (Photo by Bellanee Plaza)
ORLANDO | Two individuals were arrested Nov. 23 for defacing the Pulse memorial crosswalk with chalk and charged with interference with a traffic control device or a railroad sign.
An FHP trooper responded to the scene after the Florida Department of Transportation notified the Regional Communications Center of the incident. The suspects, identified as Austin “Bubba” Trahan and James Houchins, were seen in a video chalking the crosswalk. Trahan is a former Watermark Out News employee.
Blake Simons, founder and managing partner of Simons Law Firm, represented Trahan and Houchins. He says the affidavit indicated that the individuals were “aggressively and purposefully” grinding chalk onto the crosswalk and defacing the traffic control device. It also indicated that the word “resist” was written on the asphalt.
“What caught me off guard is the state actually argued against my probable cause challenge, stating that nowhere said it was water-soluble chalk and made some further arguments. In previous instances of these arrests, the state remained silent and did not fight back,” Simons shares. “I countered their argument that it has to be water-soluble if they’re alleging it’s $1,000 [in damages] with all of these wash-offs of the crosswalk that they’ve done.”
He says the way FHP and FDOT try to fabricate these crimes is by alleging that it costs money to come and wash it away. The judge agreed with Simons and did not find probable cause for the alleged felony for which Trahan and Houchin were arrested.
“She didn’t believe there was probable cause for any more than $200 in damage and dropped the alleged charges down to criminal mischief, which is a second-degree misdemeanor,” Simons explains. “That’s the smallest crime you could ever be convicted of under Florida law. But it still requires the state to file on it. So until they’re actually filed on, neither of these two individuals are actually charged or indicted with a crime by the state attorney’s office.”
Trahan and Houchin have been released, and Simons requested release on recognizance, which means they didn’t have to pay any bail money to be released.
Simons says it’s up to the state attorney whether or not they actually file charges on these arrest affidavits or not. In Simons’ opinion, he says no crime has been committed, and nobody who has been arrested has defaced a traffic control device.
When three protestors were arrested at the Pulse memorial crosswalk Aug. 31, five minutes after the three individuals were arrested and taken away, two different vehicles rolled up to the crosswalk and performed a burnout, leaving rubber tire marks.
They drove away while FHP sat there in their patrol vehicles and watched, Simons says, advising he witnessed the act.
Simons says the state attorney is welcome to file charges but he would “fight vehemently against those charges” and most likely take it all the way to trial.
Sign up for the Watermark Out News eNewsletter and follow us for more:
BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok | Threads | YouTube
