ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell announced that her office will not file charges against six people arrested for using chalk on the rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub memorial.
In a news conference held on Friday, Worrell said prosecutors could not meet the legal burden required to move forward.
Worrell said the investigation took two senior attorneys more than 100 hours to complete, adding that the complexity of the cases — and a lack of cooperation from arresting agencies — drove the lengthy timeline.
“This is a very novel issue,” she said. “No one has ever been prosecuted for anything like this before, and our job is to get it right.”
The rainbow crosswalk at South Orange Avenue and West Esther Street was installed by the state of Florida in 2017 as part of a $9 million Florida Department of Transportation-funded improvement project.
Worrell said FDOT’s own documents described the project as built in conjunction with the Pulse Memorial, and that city officials confirmed the crosswalk met national safety standards.
On Aug. 21, FDOT painted over the crosswalk overnight without advance notice, a public process, or safety data to justify its removal. Worrell said the timing was notable.
On June 30 — weeks before the removal — FDOT issued an internal memo banning pavement markings associated with social, political or ideological messages. That same day, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a parallel federal directive.
“This office will not use the power of prosecution as an instrument of political enforcement,” Worrell said.
Standing by the crosswalk Friday, James Houchins said he was feeling good.
“I think this is a win for the whole community to show, ‘You know, come back out, chalk, stand up,’” Houchins said.
Houchins is one of the six defendants who was arrested last year for using chalk on the crosswalk.
“If they’re claiming that chalk causes permanent damage, then what about all the children who chalk?” Houchins said, posing a rhetorical question for Florida Highway Patrol.
FHP troopers were responsible for making all six arrests.
While Worrell said there was not sufficient evidence to bring forth a criminal prosecution, she stopped short of questioning FHP’s actions.
“That’s not my call to make,” Worrell said, when News 6’s Mike Valente asked if she believes FHP erred in judgment when making the arrests.
News 6 reached out to both FHP and FDOT but a response was not returned as of this story’s publication.
Houchins, meanwhile, said he will continue to chalk the crosswalk -- as he has done since his arrest in November.
“We’re not going to stop,” Houchins said. “We’ve been at it for 246 days and until they come back and paint it, we’re not going to stop chalking.”