Three of the Stanford pro-Palestinian protesters charged with vandalizing the university president’s office in June 2024 plan to accept plea deals, their lawyers said in court this afternoon (Nov. 24).
Lawyers for Kaiden Wang, Gretchen Giumarin and Cameron Pennington told Judge Deborah Ryan that their clients plan to take a plea deal that will reduce their felony vandalism and conspiracy charges to misdemeanors.
That leaves five of the 11 protesters – Maya Burke, Taylor McCann, German Gonzalez, Amy Zhai and Hunter Taylor-Black – slated for trial.
Three of the defendants – Zoe Edelman, Isabella Terrezas and Eliana Fuchs – have hearings for the court’s mental health diversion program scheduled, court records show.
The group, which prosecutors say broke a window to enter the office before barricading themselves inside, pouring fake blood and ransacking drawers, will return to court Monday for a trial assignment hearing. Stanford estimates the protest caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
Before then, defense attorney Jeff Wozniak, who represents Guinarin and represented Pennington in his lawyer’s absence Monday, said he plans to file a motion requesting his clients’ cases to be separated ahead of their plea deals.
Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker said he didn’t see a reason they couldn’t enter their pleas on the spot and questioned the need to separate their cases if they planned to take the plea deal.
Ryan said she believes the three defendants will take the plea deal and she’ll be “disappointed” if they don’t.
Ryan defended the decision to offer the defendants misdemeanors, because they’re young, have no criminal history, didn’t hurt anyone and believed their actions served a humanitarian cause.
Vandalism can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the severity. If it involves $400 worth of damage or more, it can be punished by up to a year in county jail or three years in state prison and a $10,000 fine. Vandalism that causes less than $400 in damage carries up to a year in county jail and a $5,000 fine.
A judge can also order someone convicted of vandalism to replace the damaged property.
Ryan said she plans to hold a hearing to determine what the defendants owe Stanford in restitution if they’re found guilty, which makes the question of misdemeanor or felony less important.
“The restitution is the restitution, period,” Ryan said.
Baker said letting the protesters off with a misdemeanor would downplay the amount of damage they allegedly caused. He said their actions were carefully planned out and that they haven’t shown any remorse or made any effort to pay Stanford back, suggesting they see the trial as “an extension of their protest.”
Tony Brass, Taylor-Black’s lawyer, told the Daily Post that the defense has tried, unsuccessfully, to get through to prosecutors to discuss restitution payments.
They’ll turn this into a show trial, with dramatic speeches, perhaps more vandalism (duck, judge, that’s a bag of blood!) and lots of ignorance. Attorney to witness: “Here’s a map of the Mid-East. Can you please point to the country of Palestine?”
They won’t spend a minute in jail. Their parents are rich. Stanford and the DA are woke. Case closed. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Woke? This is the only school/DA in the country that is actually prosecuting students for pro-Palestinian protest. Stanford has always been deeply conservative; a literal citadel to capitalism dots its skyline. That place is as ardent a defender of the status quo as there is buddy.
Prosecutors in King County, Washington, are currently trying 30 alleged anti-Israel vandals who did about one million dollars in damage to a University of Washington building. In Fort Worth, anti-Israel vandals are facing trial.
Public protest would have been effective alone. But they chose vandalism, which is violent and criminal. None of these individuals will ever be valuable members of society. Expel them all.
Vandalism is criminal, and public protest is ineffective. It might get it out of your system, but at the end of the day, nothing has changed. Protesters are embarrassing. Get a life.