A Murray woman who protested at the Confederate monument in downtown Murray pleaded not guilty yesterday for a misdemeanor charge of falsely reporting an incident to police, saying a man — who appeared to be spraying water at protesters — had slapped her. https://www.wkms.org/post/murray-woman-pleads-not-guilty-falsely-reporting-incident-near-confederate-monument#stream/0

The defense attorney for the woman, Linda Arakelyan, says Arakelyan and the man spraying water, Sandy Forrest, had briefly made incidental contact. The attorney said it's reasonable to believe Arakelyan thought she was slapped given how quick it happened and w/ water in her eyes.

The Murray Police Department had tried twice to request charges against Forrest for a violation of harassment, but county attorney Bryan Ernstberger said he rejected both requests because the warrants lacked probable cause. Ernstberger said he then presented evidence to a...

...grand jury to see if the jurors believed any charges should be recommended from the incident, which resulted in the misdemeanor against Arakelyan. Protests at the Confederate monument in downtown Murray calling for its removal have been going off and on for months.