BATH — The Sagadahoc County District Attorney’s Office says it won’t prosecute 25 protesters arrested last month for blocking the road outside Bath Iron Works.

The DA’s office has reviewed reports, videos and photos, and decided not to prosecute the cases, according to a press release issued Thursday by District Attorney Natasha Irving. Prosecutors believe police had probable cause to make the arrests and charge the protesters with obstructing a public way, she wrote.

“However, prosecuting these matters in court would necessitate a significant designation of resources and time on the part of office staff and the court, and give more undue publicity to those 25 individuals,” she said.

Irving noted that the District Attorney has discretion not to pursue a criminal case if it would not serve the interests of justice.

“In declining prosecution, despite believing we could untimely prove these cases beyond a reasonable doubt,” she said, “we believe we are more effectively focusing our resources towards the prosecution of more serious criminal matters, consistent with our obligation to seek justice and the protection of public safety.”

Irving, a Democrat, won election to the District 6 post last November, becoming the first woman to serve as district attorney for the district, which includes Knox, Lincoln, Waldo and Sagadahoc counties.

During her campaign, Irving emphasized the need to focus on restorative justice and criticized the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders.

At the christening of the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, protesters called on the Navy and shipyard to focus their efforts on the national and global threats posed by climate change, rather than building ships that the group says exacerbate climate change. 

The destroyer, which will be based in San Diego, is the third and final Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer to be built at BIW.

According to police, more than 75 protesters lined the sidewalks on both sides of Washington Street before the start of the christening ceremony taking place at the shipyard on April 27. The protesters went into the street around 9 a.m. and blocked traffic ahead of the 10 a.m. ceremony. 

Vehicles had to be turned around, and a bus shuttling guests to the christening was surrounded and couldn’t maneuver around the demonstrators, according to a press release issued by Bath police after the arrests.

Eight protesters behind the bus were ordered to get out of the roadway or face arrest, according to a press release issued by Bath police.

Twenty-five protesters were arrested and charged with obstructing a public way. The charge is a  Class E crime punishable by up to six months incarceration and a $1,000 fine. The protesters were primarily members of Maine Veterans for Peace, Code Pink and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, according to police.

It is not the first time Bath police arrested protesters during a warship christening at BIW.

Nine people who were arrested while protesting the christening of the USS Thomas Hudner at Bath Iron Works in 2017, but were acquitted of charges 10 months later.

Those nine were charged with trespassing. Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings granted a motion for judgment of acquittal, citing improper application of the law by Bath police and a lack of ordinances in the city.

Three of those arrested in 2017  were also charged in 2016 at a similar protest during the christening of the future USS Michael Monsoor.

Dennis Hoey of the Portland Press Herald contributed to this report.

dmoore@timesrecord.com