A federal jury has ruled in New York’s favor in a lawsuit filed by American Indians who claimed state troopers used excessive force while breaking up an anti-tax protest nearly 20 years ago.

The Post-Standard of Syracuse reported that the nine-person jury on Tuesday rejected the claims of 12 plaintiffs who said the troopers violated their rights while quelling the protest held in May 1997 along Interstate 81 on the Onondaga Nation, just south of Syracuse.