A New York court has dismissed all charges against well-known First Amendment auditor SeanPaul Reyes, AKA Long Island Audit, for a 2023 incident at a police station in Brooklyn. Reyes announced the court’s decision in a just-released YouTube video.
Reyes entered the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn while filming. Officers reacted aggressively to Reyes’ presence. He was subsequently charged with obstructing governmental administration, criminal trespass in the third degree, and simple trespass.
Judge Germaine Auguste dismissed all of the charges, saying that they were "facially insufficient." "Facially insufficient" is a legal term that describes a situation where a criminal charge or accusatory document (like a complaint or indictment) fails to allege enough facts to constitute a crime under the law. When a charge is deemed facially insufficient, it means that even if every fact alleged in the charge were true, those facts would still not amount to a criminal offense.
In his video, Reyes explained that the NYPD's orders for Reyes to stop filming and leave the precinct were not lawful. Among other things, the NYPD did not demonstrate how Reyes' actions prevented any official function or constituted a crime. The court's decision emphasized that state trespass laws cannot be enforced solely to exclude persons from exercising First Amendment or other protected conduct.