COVINGTON, Ky. — A Kenton County jury found a University of Cincinnati student and former CityBeat intern guilty of one misdemeanor charge related to arrests made during a protest on the Roebling Bridge in July.
Lucas Griffith, who was found not guilty of three other charges in Kenton County District Court on Thursday, was one of 14 arrested that evening.
Specifically, Griffith was found guilty of failure to disperse but not guilty of disorderly conduct, obstructing an emergency responder and obstructing a highway. Griffith was covering the protest as a reporter for CityBeat, along with Madeline Fening.
WATCH: Our partners at WXVU captured the moment Griffith and Fening were arrested while covering the protest
The court levied a $50 fine against Griffith. With court costs and other fees, Griffith now owes the court a total of $219, which he must either pay or demonstrate a cause for not being able to pay by Jan. 20.
Fening was originally scheduled to stand trial on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., but her attorneys asked for a continuance at a hearing on Monday morning, which the court granted. According to the court clerk’s office, her trial has been rescheduled for Jan. 13, 2026, at 8:30 a.m.
“The Covington Police Department arrested and charged our client despite being made aware that he was a journalist,” wrote Bethany Baxter, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, in a press release. ACLU lawyers represented Griffith during his trial.
“The jury correctly rejected the prosecutor’s request to convict him of multiple offenses, opting instead to issue a guilty verdict on a lone charge and impose a minimal fine,” Baxter concluded.
LINK nky is a media partner of WCPO.com.
