UPDATE: All charges against animal activist dismissed on Wednesday

Update on the Monitor’s front page story this week. This story has developed since the paper went to press.

Wednesday afternoon update: in a hearing held Wednesday afternoon, all charges against Matthew Johnson were formally dropped. 

               On Tuesday afternoon, the Wright County Attorney’s Office filed a motion to dismiss all charges against Matthew Johnson. Johnson was set to stand trial in Wright County starting Thursday for third-degree burglary and electronic or mechanical eavesdropping relating back to a May of 2020 break in at a Iowa Select Farms hog facility in rural Dows.

               Johnson subsequently filed a motion of resistance to the dismissal on Tuesday. According to that motion “the State must provide the reasons for dismissal before any such motion can be granted. Because the Motion fails to provide a legally-sufficient reason for the dismissal – and because Johnson has not had the opportunity to clear his name (or vindicate his constitutional right to freedom of speech) – the Motion is legally insufficient.”

               A press release from the group Direct Action Everywhere, which Johnson is a part of, noted Johnson filed the motion of resistance in order to present at trial evidence of the ventilation shutdown killings at Iowa Select Farms.

               A telephone hearing on the State’s motion to dismiss is planned for Wednesday afternoon.

               Check back for future developments to this story.