Photo: Sutu Forté talks to people from the top of a red oak Oct. 29, 2019, near the site of the Shepard to Rollins Trail. She spent eight days and nights in the tree until she was arrested for trespassing. Photo: Courtesy Columbia Missourian
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A woman who sat in a tree for eight days to protest the construction of a concrete trail in Columbia has been acquitted of trespassing.
Sutu Forté was acquitted Thursday after a one-day trial in Boone County Circuit Court. She had faced a maximum fine of $1,000 for the misdemeanor charge.
“I am speechless,” Forté said afterward. “I am so grateful I was encouraged to go in this direction. Today is a new day for caring about the environment.”
Forté set up camp in the oak tree in the fall of 2019 to protest the construction of a 10-foot concrete trail, which connects East Campus with Old Highway 63, the Columbia Missourian reported.
After she and an environmental group bought the property where the trail was planned, the city granted an easement to build the project.
Forté was removed from the tree on Nov. 5, 2019, in a firetruck bucket and charged with trespassing.
The tree was cut down the same day and construction began. The Shepard-to-Rollins trail opened in 2020.
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