The City of Moscow’s legal department asked the Latah County Magistrate Court to dismiss misdemeanor charges issued to five people for allegedly violating the social distancing and mask order as well as resisting and obstructing justice, according to a news release from the city.
Former Latah County Commissioner candidate Gabriel Rench, who lost the November election to incumbent Tom Lamar, was one of the five charged at a “psalm sing” event organized by Christ Church in protest of the mask order.
The city code provides exemptions from public health emergency orders like the current mask mandate, stating “any and all expressive and associative activity” protected by the Idaho and U.S. Constitutions are exempt from the order “unless otherwise specifically prohibited.”
The current public health order states it applies to “every person in the City of Moscow” and does not specifically say it applies to the activities protected by state and federal constitutions.
“As the cited individuals’ actions could be argued as such expressive and associative activities, the City of Moscow Legal Department has moved the (Latah County) court to dismiss the citations,” the city’s press release stated.
Moscow City Supervisor Gary Riedner said the city’s legal team made the decision before it had gone to court and been examined by a jury.
City Attorney Mia Bautista confirmed the public health emergency order is “effective and valid for all activities not exempt” by the city code, according to the release.
Violations of the social distancing order and mask mandate, as well as Gov. Brad Little’s Stage 2 order, will still be investigated by the Moscow Police Department and the Legal Department, Bautista stated in the release.
“I imagine folks are disappointed there was a flaw in the public health emergency order, an omission,” Riedner said. “I wish it hadn’t been there and that the appropriate language had been included, but it was not. All we can do is fix it and move forward.”
The Administrative Committee of the Moscow City Council and the Moscow City Council will be considering recommendations for the amendment of the city code at their next meeting.. The committee will meet Jan. 11 at 4 p.m. and the council will meet Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5.