Supporters rally May 28, 2025, after three protesters were arrested at a City Council meeting. | Mike Mendenhall, Jacksonville Today
Published on April 16, 2026 at 1:02 pm
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The first of three people charged after raucous protests at a City Council meeting last year has been found guilty.
A jury on Wednesday convicted Leah Grady, 25, of resisting an officer without violence and resisting a police officer under a municipal ordinance, according to court records.
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The arrests occurred May 27, 2025, after a period of public comment at the meeting. Conor Cauley, 30, and Teagan Belloit, 26, also were arrested that night.
Much of the public comments focused on the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, community organizing, and the council’s decision that evening to deny the nomination of former Duval County School Board Chair Elizabeth Andersen to a library board.
After multiple outbursts, then-council President Randy White warned that demonstrations for and against actions were against council rules. He then told police to remove those “making an uproar, please,” according to a video of the meeting.
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Grady was asked to leave for loudly clapping and refused “several pleadings” from officers to leave willingly, her arrest report said.
She refused to be handcuffed or to put her hands behind her back, the report said.
As Grady was escorted out, Cauley stood in the way, his arrest report said. He made some kind of movement after being told to move, and an officer grabbed him and pulled him over the row of seats and onto the ground, the report said. Cauley was handcuffed, and a folding credit card knife was found in his wallet, police said.
Beloit’s arrest report said she got in the way of other arrests and refused to move.
Grady’s sentencing is set for May 11. The two other people arrested are awaiting trial.
