Diane Bukowski, the Michigan Citizen freelance reporter who has covered police brutality issues in Detroit for ten years, is scheduled for trial on April 27 on two felony police obstruction charges. Bukowski was arrested by state police as she documented the aftermath of an Election Day police chase that resulted in the deaths of motorcyclist James Willingham and pedestrian Jeffrey Frazier.
 
Three of the five felony charges against Bukowski were dismissed by 36th District Court Judge Beverly Hayes-Sipes at a preliminary hearing in December.

The Michigan Citizen reports that at a March 19 hearing, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hathaway denied Bukowski’s motion to dismiss the remaining two felony charges against her.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has warned that the charges against Bukowski may be retaliation for her reporting on police brutality and stated that such action “can chill journalist’s aggressive pursuit of information that the Constitution’s framers believed was essential to a healthy democracy.”