The rising fees come from trials of people arrested during the protests of 2014 following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. The defendants have been charged with “failure to comply” — a charge the U.S. Justice Department has said Ferguson police often abuse.

Tuesday’s not-guilty verdicts came in the cases of Michael Powers and Meghan Flannery. Both were convicted in Ferguson Municipal Court on failure-to-comply charges and appealed. They agreed to be tried to together. Powers is the legislative director for St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed. Flannery is an employee at St. Louis Alderman Antonio French’s North Campus education center.

On Aug. 14, 2014, the two were waiting outside the Ferguson Police Department for French to be released from jail. Confrontations erupted between protesters and police, and Powers and Flannery were taken into custody.

Ferguson prosecutors argued that Flannery and Powers ignored police orders to leave the area.

During the trial, the pair were represented by Mark Timmerman, 24, and Katherine Landfried, 29, under the direction of John Ammann, supervisor of the St. Louis University Litigation Clinic. A Missouri Supreme Court rule allows law school students who have completed half their hours to represent defendants in court under the direction of a licensed attorney.