Charges Dropped Against Activist Who Exposed Iowa Hog Deaths

Charges Dropped Against Activist Who Exposed Iowa Hog Deaths
Beef and hog sides hang in the cooler awaiting processing in Elma, Iowa, on July 25, 2018. Scott Olson/Getty Images
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IOWA CITY, Iowa—Prosecutors have dropped trespassing charges against an activist who helped secretly record Iowa’s largest pork producer using heat to kill thousands of hogs last year as the pandemic devastated the industry.

Matt Johnson, an activist with the group Direct Action Everywhere, had been scheduled to stand trial in Grundy County, Iowa, on Monday on two counts of trespassing at Iowa Select Farms properties in May.