The City of Wetumpka is no longer pursuing third-degree criminal trespass charges against Beverly Roberts, 85, and Mary Alston, 61.
The Wetumpka women were found guilty of third-degree criminal trespassing in December in municipal court and appealed the decision to circuit court.
According to court records, Wednesday, the City of Wetumpka through its prosecutor W. Kendrick James filed motions to have the charges against the women nolle prosse, meaning the city is no longer prosecuting the trespassing charges from June 2022 arrests. The motion was granted by 19th Circuit Court Judge Amanda Baxley Wednesday afternoon.
James had recused himself from the original case because of a conflict of interest but filed a notice of appearance with court to file the nollee prosse motion, stating the appearance was only for the motion.
No reason was given for the City of Wetumpka to no longer prosecute.
The case garnered international attention. Roberts had been told not to come onto property owned by Elmore County near the historic Elmore County Courthouse for the purposes of feeding and trapping cats. On June 25, 2022, Alston was first seen on the property and told by officers with the Wetumpka Police Department to leave. About an hour later officers returned to find Alston had not left and was joined by Roberts. The two ladies were arrested.
In a December trial, Wetumpka Municipal Court Judge Jeff Courtney found Alston and Roberts guilty of third-degree criminal trespass and sentenced them to two years of unsupervised probation and a 10-day suspended jail sentence.
Following sentencing in December, Roberts took an opportunity to comment to the court.
“I’m not the first person in Wetumpka to feed cats,” Roberts said. “People were doing it long before me, probably before Wetumpka was here. I just got caught.”
Courtney said the charges were not for feeding cats.
“You weren’t convicted for feeding cats,” Courtney told Roberts.
Roberts quickly responded.
“I know, because that’s not illegal,” Roberts said.
A GoFundMe campaign was established after the municipal court conviction for the purposes of raising money for legal expenses for appealing the case to circuit court. More than $87,000 was raised.
The statement on the GoFundMe campaign said unused funds from the campaign would be used for trap-neuter-return efforts in the area or donated to national animal organizations.
