Charges to be dismissed for 5 Stanford pro-Palestinian protesters after mistrial
STANFORD, Calif. -- Felony conspiracy and vandalism charges against five pro-Palestinian Stanford University protesters will be dismissed under a pretrial diversion agreement reached Monday with the state Attorney General's Office.
A jury in the case deadlocked in February before the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office was recused for a conflict of interest. A judge ruled that District Attorney Jeff Rosen's use of the case in a campaign fundraising materials that referred to the protest as "antisemitic" and other communications represented a conflict.
The case stemmed from a protest in June 2024 during which an administration building was occupied and damaged. The charges, which also included misdemeanor trespassing, represented some of the most serious criminal accusations to be brought after thousands of arrests were recorded around the country in 2023 and 2024 during student protests against financial support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.
The California Attorney General's Office took over the case and was deciding whether to retry the felonies, prior to the diversion agreement reached Monday. The agreement means all 12 of the protesters will avoid criminal charges if they complete the terms of pretrial agreements, after seven others already reached deals to avoid conviction.
The defendants will have the charges dismissed if they complete 100 hours of community service. They were also ordered to pay nearly $52,000 in restitution, which a spokesperson for the defendants said had been paid.
Amy Zhai, one of the defendants, said in a phone interview that she felt relieved to have the matter resolved after the agreement was reached to dismiss the charges.
RELATED: Pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied Stanford president's office arraigned on felony charges
"Any way you look at it, it's a victory," she said.
She said that the trial and criminal charges had effectively disrupted her and her other defendants' lives. But she said the experience did not diminish the group's support for Palestine, which the United Nations says continues to face daily killings by Israel's military, has nearly its entire population displaced, and continues to face a humanitarian crisis of food, sanitation, and medical needs brought on by the military onslaught that has been supported by the United States.
Zhai said she hoped the case would invigorate the movement and lead more people to speak up for the people of Gaza.
"If this was an attempt to silence speech that supports Palestine, that failed," she said.
The Attorney General's Office said in a statement that the resolution would bring accountability for the damage caused during the demonstration, during which the protesters demanded the university divest itself from investments funding war crimes in Palestine.
"This resolution requires the defendants to make amends to the community for their actions through extensive community service and ensures they fully reimburse Stanford for all repairs," a spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office said in an email.
RELATED: DA charges 12 Stanford pro-Palestinian protesters with felonies for vandalism, trespassing
Two of the defendants have completed their community service, according to the nonprofit organization Council on Islamic-American Relations - San Francisco Bay Area, or CAIR-SFBA. The advocacy organization objected to the charges being brought by the DA's Office and said they were motivated by the students' pro-Palestinian stance.
"These students should never have faced felony charges for their participation in a campus protest," CAIR-SFBA said in a statement.
"Treating protest activity as felony conduct was disproportionate from the outset, and putting them through another trial after more than two years, a mistrial and the disqualification of the District Attorney's Office because of a conflict of interest would only have compounded that harm," the organization said.
Protests were held at several prominent universities besides Stanford, including the University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, and Columbia University. The Stanford protesters broke into an administrative office and occupied it, causing what the university said was thousands of dollars in damage.
The students were calling on the university to divest its endowment from investments tied to Israel's government and military, according to the students involved.
A spokesperson for the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office declined to comment and referred questions to the Attorney General's Office.
