(AP) -- Court records show charges have been dismissed against the Occupy Columbia protestors arrested last month when they refused to leave Statehouse grounds after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley issued a deadline.
Richland County records show the trespass charge against 19 people arrested on Nov. 16 were dropped Wednesday.
Attorney Robert Masella represents three of the protesters and says prosecutor Dan Johnson dropped the charges. Masella says the dismissal shows they committed no crime, and Haley overreached her authority.
Johnson couldn't immediately be reached to talk about his decision. There was no immediate response from Haley's spokesman.
Haley ordered the protestors off the Statehouse at 6 p.m. Nov. 16 and restricted the protests to daylight hours. But protesters who challenged her order five days later were told they could stay.
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