SAN JOSE, California: Eleven pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were arrested at Stanford University last year after they occupied the president’s office building pleaded not guilty Monday for the second time after they were indicted by a grand jury on felony vandalism charges.
The group of current and former Stanford students and activists were charged in April with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass. All pleaded not guilty during their arraignment the following month.
But after preliminary hearings were delayed for months due to defense attorneys being unavailable, prosecutors took the case to a grand jury, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in court documents.
Last week’s grand jury indictment superseded the charges filed in April, allowing for the legal proceedings to skip preliminary hearings, which are held to determine if there is enough evidence for a trial.
“The PEOPLE are ready for trial at the soonest possible date,” Rosen wrote.
Attorneys for the group had requested a preliminary hearing and set a date for Nov. 3, which would have given them the opportunity to publicly challenge the evidence presented, defense attorney Jeff Wozniak said.
“Grand Juries are secret proceedings where no defendants or defense attorneys are present to ask questions or defend themselves,” Wozniak said. “By avoiding a preliminary hearing, they are making secret a fundamentally important step in the case.”
A judge on Monday set a trial date for Nov. 17.
The Stanford takeover began around dawn on June 5, 2024, the last day of spring classes at the university in California’s Silicon Valley. Some protesters barricaded themselves inside the building, which houses the university president’s office. Others linked arms outside, The Stanford Daily reported at the time. The group chanted “Palestine will be free, we will free Palestine.” The takeover ended three hours later when they were arrested.
Authorities arrested and charged 12 people but last month a 21-year-old man pleaded no contest under a deferred entry of judgment agreement available to young defendants. If he completes probation without further legal trouble, the case could be dismissed, the Mercury News reported. The man testified for the prosecution before the grand jury.
Prosecutors accuse the demonstrators of spray-painting on the building, breaking windows and furniture, disabling security cameras and splattering a red liquid described as fake blood on items throughout the building. Damages were estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who occupied Stanford building are arraigned
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who occupied Stanford building are arraigned
- Some protesters barricaded themselves inside the building, which houses the university president’s office
Changes to US security strategy ‘largely consistent’ with Russia’s vision: Kremlin
- Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones”
MOSCOW: Russia has welcomed changes in the US National Security Strategy, saying the adjustments that marked a radical departure from Washington’s previous policy were “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision.
Washington’s new National Security Strategy, published early Friday, took aim at allies in Europe, calling it over-regulated, lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilizational erasure” due to immigration.
The document stated that the United States would also prevent other powers from dominating but added: “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.”
Commenting on the new US strategy, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones.”
“The adjustments we’re seeing, I would say, are largely consistent with our vision,” Peskov said in an interview with state TV station Rossiya aired Sunday.
“President Trump is currently strong in terms of domestic political positions. And this gives him the opportunity to adjust the concept to suit his vision,” Peskov added.
The publication of the updated security strategy came as officials from Kyiv held talks in Florida with Trump’s envoys on the US-drafted plan to end the near four-year war in Ukraine.
Three days of talks produced no apparent breakthrough.
President Volodymyr Zelensky committed to further negotiations toward “real peace,” as Russia in the early hours of Saturday launched another series of drone and missile strikes at Ukraine.
Zelensky is due to meet with European leaders — French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — in London on Monday to take stock of the negotiations.
