A Santa Clara County decide on Thursday deferred plea entries for 12 individuals charged with felony vandalism and different crimes stemming from a June 2024 protest at Stanford College’s govt places of work.
The listening to occurred on the county’s Superior Court docket in Palo Alto, the place Choose Vincent Chiarello granted the defendants’ requests to postpone their pleas till Aug. 1.
A number of defendants additionally requested to be thought-about for a diversion program by way of the probation division, which might permit them to carry out neighborhood service on account of their alleged actions final summer season. If convicted, these charged withstand three years in jail and fines as much as $50,000.
Renee Hessling, who represents defendant Taylor McCann, mentioned authorized groups wanted extra time to evaluation supplies.
Dozens of supporters of the group of protesters — dubbed the “Stanford 12” by activists — gathered exterior the courthouse however have been met with a heavy legislation enforcement presence. Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies arrived hours earlier than the listening to and appeared to outnumber the gang. A white detention bus was parked out entrance.
Deputies enforced court docket restrictions strictly on Thursday, handing out copies of a standing order to supporters and members of the media that bans protests, broadcasting or images on courthouse property.
Not like a earlier listening to in Could, the place deputies threatened arrests, the gang Thursday dispersed quietly, with out chants or rallies.
Santa Clara County District Lawyer Jeff Rosen introduced in Could that the 12 people would face prices in reference to the June 5 incident, which prosecutors allege triggered between $360,000 and $1 million in property harm.
Authorities mentioned the group barricaded themselves inside college places of work as a part of a broader campus demonstration demanding that Stanford divest from corporations tied to Israel’s navy marketing campaign in Gaza.
A spokesperson for Stanford College students for Justice in Palestine mentioned prosecution of the activists sends a harmful sign.
“We call on the District Attorney to immediately drop these charges. This is a blatant misuse of judicial resources and a disturbing attempt to criminalize dissent,” the group mentioned in an announcement. “Prosecuting peaceful protestors sends a chilling message and echoes the kind of anti-democratic, (Donald) Trump-style attacks on free speech that have no place in our community.”
Attorneys for a number of defendants additionally pushed again in a joint assertion.
Hessling, Dana Fite, Brendan Barrett and Leah Gillis — who respectively symbolize defendants McCann, Cameron Pennington, Isabel Terrazas and Maya Burke — mentioned the protest was in keeping with an extended historical past of peaceable civil disobedience on campus.
“This is a unique time in our society where young people recognize a call to action for moral conscience is required,” the attorneys mentioned. “Just like many Stanford sit-ins in the past, the students’ actions in this case were part of a peaceful protest intended to express deeply held humanitarian beliefs. The charges of felony vandalism are grossly exaggerated and fail to reflect the nonviolent and peaceful nature of the sit-in.”
On the group’s arraignment in Could, a whole lot of demonstrators rallied peacefully exterior the courthouse of the identical Superior Court docket, the place they have been first knowledgeable of the order banning public meeting on court docket grounds. Sheriff’s deputies responded in riot gear then and threatened to arrest supporters if they didn’t disperse. After which, supporters moved their gathering to a public park.
Stanford’s response to pro-Palestine pupil activism has drawn criticism from throughout the spectrum.
A college subcommittee discovered proof of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on campus, whereas a separate report documented incidents of Islamophobia and discrimination in opposition to Muslim, Arab and Palestinian college students.
