Three-year wait ends as Tisdale trial begins Monday

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Jury selection begins Monday in Dawson County Superior Court in the long-awaited trial of Nydia Tisdale, the self-proclaimed citizen journalist charged Aug. 2014 with trespassing and felony obstruction of an officer.

Tisdale was arrested by Dawson County Sheriff’s Captain Tony Wooten while filming a political candidate rally at Burt’s Pumpkin Farm in Dawson County. She could face five years in prison if convicted.

Fetch Your News owner Brian K. Pritchard attended the rally. It was his audio recording and subsequent reporting of the incident that attracted state and national attention. Pritchard has been subpoenaed by the state and is expected to testify next week.

Tisdale claims she had the property owner’s permission to film the event. But owners, Johnny and Kathy Burt, told Dawsonnews.com Tisdale misled them. They say they asked Wooten to tell her to stop filming or leave their property. Wooten says when she refused to stop filming, he arrested her.

According to the arrest warrant, Tisdale elbowed Wooten in the face and kicked him in the shin.

The arrest sparked outrage by the mainstream media and political activists who claim Tisdale’s First Amendment rights had been violated. Property rights advocates, on the other hand, say property owners have every right to evict someone from their property.

 

 

Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com