BATON ROUGE (AP) - Baton Rouge prosecutors have ruled out criminal charges against several people who are suing over their arrests at protests after a deadly 2016 police shooting in Louisiana's capital.

  

A court filing shows the district attorney's office notified plaintiff's attorneys on Wednesday that it won't prosecute five protesters and two journalists who were arrested on misdemeanor charges. They were among nearly 200 people arrested at protests after a white police officer shot and killed a black man, Alton Sterling, outside a convenience store in July 2016.

  

In January, lawyers for the Louisiana State Police asked a federal judge to dismiss or suspend plaintiffs' civil claims of free speech violations and wrongful arrest because they still faced possible criminal charges.

  

The court denied that request Thursday, allowing the case to proceed.