BVIS has been freed.
The graffiti artist allegedly behind all of those Beavis and Butt-Head drawings you’ve probably seen scrawled in and around Detroit lately had faced six felony counts of malicious destruction of property and up to four years in prison.
But on Thursday Judge Ronald Giles of Detroit’s 36th District Court dropped the charges against the alleged culprit, citing insufficient evidence, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Last month, Wayne County prosecutors arrested Hazel Park man Bryan Herrin, alleging that he was behind the graffiti. In a statement to the Free Press, Herrin’s attorney David Rudoi maintained that his client was innocent.
“We respect the mayor and the people of the city of Detroit considering this issue a high priority, however, Mr. Herrin was innocent of the crimes alleged against him,” Rudoi said.
In April, Metro Times interviewed a person who said he was behind the graffiti. We reached out via the person’s Instagram account @fatdeepdish420, and he agreed to a candid phone interview under the condition that we not reveal his identity and use his graffiti artist moniker, BVIS.
At the time, BVIS told us that he loved the thrill of painting graffiti and was not afraid of getting caught, despite Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s crackdown on vandalism.
“I love just getting away with shit,” BVIS told us. “But part of me is like, I know people like it. It feels good to make people smile. But it is mostly the adrenaline rush.”
Detroit police said the volume of the graffiti prompted the response.
“It was multiple situations where [we] had to have people from the city go out and clean this area up,” Detroit Police Capt. Marcus Thirlkill told Fox 2. “There’s a cost associated with having to go out and clean up each time this character is painted on structures.”
A “Free BVIS” movement emerged in protest of the charges, which supporters said were too severe. Messages reading “Free BVIS” could be seen emblazoned around Detroit in recent weeks.
BVIS did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
