Eight people have been charged with a variety of offenses related to the protest and destruction of the obelisk in the weeks following Indigenous Peoples Day last year. Dylan Wrobel's is the first to transfer into state District Court.
Prosecutors won a preliminary victory Tuesday morning by convincing Santa Fe Magistrate Judge David Segura there was enough evidence to send Wrobel, one of the men arrested during the melee on the Plaza last October, to trial on a felony count.
Wrobel, 27, becomes the first of the eight people arrested in connection with the Indigenous Peoples Day event that led to the toppling of the race-charged Civil War soldiers' obelisk to be bound over for trial in state District Court.
A trial date has not yet been set.
Segura's decision came after arguments from Eric Sirotkin, Wrobel's lawyer, that the state hadn't met its burden of probable cause that Wrobel had committed a felony on Oct. 12.
Assistant District Attorney Richard Wilson argued the opposite, ultimately convincing the judge, who transferred Wrobel's case—consisting of one felony and two misdemeanor charges—over to District Court.
Wrobel was one of two people arrested by police officers on Indigenous Peoples Day last year before the takedown of the obelisk by protesters. He is charged with battery upon a peace officer, a felony, and resisting evading or obstructing an officer during an arrest and criminal trespass, both misdemeanors.
Sirotkin argued in closing remarks that Santa Fe Police Department Detective Javier Vigil's body camera video from that day did not show Wrobel hitting Vigil with a "substantial shove or push" and that the contact shown was "incidental." Sirotkin also said that Vigil did not give clear enough instructions to Wrobel to stop walking and a straightforward warning that he would be arrested if he continued.
Vigil agreed with Sirotkin during cross-examination that Wrobel was never verbally disrespectful or rude to him.
Both attorneys pointed to Vigil's body camera video, which was shown in court, as proof that either Wrobel was innocent or that he had committed the crimes.
Wilson, the lead prosecutor on the obelisk cases that include felonies, said Wrobel was trying to take Vigil to the ground.
The judge agreed that the state had met probable cause for battery.
Sean Sunderland, the second person arrested with Wrobel on Oct. 12, has a hearing set for Jan. 12.
Five of the six other people charged in the incident will have preliminary hearings in late January and late February. Stephen Fox, a gallery owner in Santa Fe, has a docket call on Jan. 27.
When asked how the First Judicial District Attorney's office will handle these high-profile cases, DA Mary Carmack-Altwies tells SFR each case will be "evaluated on its merits and the defendants on theirs," including past criminal history.
