Federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the indictment of a man charged for distributing face shields to anti-deportation protesters in Los Angeles.
Alejandro Orellana was indicted in June by a federal grand jury on two felony charges of aiding and abetting civil disorder, for allegedly bringing face shields meant to protect from chemical irritants to protesters downtown.
The motion to dismiss didn’t provide a reason, and a spokesperson for the US attorney’s Office in LA declined to comment.
The Tuesday motion came as Bloomberg Law reported that the temporary head of the office, Bill Essayli, faced resistance from prosecutors and went to the top of DOJ to salvage the case.
Essayli is stepping down as interim US attorney to become “acting” US attorney under the Vacancies Reform Act, to stay on for 210 more days, after district court judges did not use their authority to appoint him indefinitely, the Justice Department confirmed.
Under DOJ’s policy manual, the civil disturbance charge required consultation with the National Security Division in Washington before it could be brought to a grand jury.
The requested dismissal is without prejudice, meaning prosecutors can refile. Orellana’s attorney declined to comment.
Sol Marquez of Centro CSO, a LA-based grassroots community group of which Orellana is a member, credited “public outcry and pressure,” for helping get the charges dismissed.
“We had a whole series of events and calls to action planned, if they went ahead with their circus trial,” Marquez said in a statement. “Alejandro did nothing wrong, in his and our fight to stop deportations and ICE raids.”
The case is USA v. Orellana, C.D. Cal., No. 2:25-cr-00548, 7/29/25.
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