Law decried after black woman's 'lynching' arrest

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- When Sacramento police arrested black activist Maile Hampton over her role in a Black Lives Matter protest in January, they didn't charge her with obstructing traffic, trespassing or disturbing the peace.

They charged her with felony lynching.

No one was killed or even hurt in the demonstration. But the 20-year-old woman was booked under a 1933 section of the California penal code that applies the word "lynching" to the crime of attempting to seize someone from police custody.

While the offense later was downgraded to something more conventional, the use of the lynching charge incensed many community leaders and led California lawmakers to unanimously vote to strike the term from the books. The measure won final approval last week and is now before Gov. Jerry Brown.

"To come full circle 2015 and have a woman of color charged with that crime -- the irony was not lost on me," said state Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, the black legislator who introduced the bill.