DA charges 12 Stanford pro-Palestinian protesters with felonies for vandalism, trespassing
STANFORD, Calif. (KGO) -- The Santa Clara County District Attorney has charged 12 people with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass, 10 months after pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves in the Stanford president's office.
The DA has accused those students of causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to Stanford's Building 10.
The investigation also revealed more details into how those protesters organized the building takeover.
"Dissent is American, vandalism is criminal," said Jeff Rosen, Santa Clara District Attorney.
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At the time of the building occupation, students had been demanding that the university stop investing in companies advancing military efforts in the Israel-Hamas war.
On June 5, 2024, the DA said they broke into the office building of the university president.
Rosen said that in the process, the group broke windows, furniture, disabled a camera and splashed fake blood.
The damages are estimated to be between $360,000 to $1 million.
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Investigators said the group went about it in a highly organized way.
"These 12 were absolutely had been conspiring for days in advance to do this. They had operational plans. They had lookouts. They were scouting out the area to see what time either uniformed police officers or private security would be around," Rosen said.
Rosen said the 12 had crowbars, a window punch, angle grinders and other equipment.
The DA said a review of their cellphone data showed communications about the planning of the occupation which included the sharing of a "Do-it-yourself occupation guide" which showed how to use the tools to break into a building.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said its worked hard to encourage college student to exercise first amendment and free speech rights.
"But building occupations, vandalism and trapping students, activities that we have seen happen across the country, since October 7 is not protected expression, so I think we have a duty to educate students around what is the line between protected expression under the First Amendment and what is unlawful conduct. And I don't think our educational institutions have done a good job of that," said Nico Perrino, with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
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In a statement, Stanford said in part:
"As we've maintained consistently, we believe the decision on how to proceed with these cases rests with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office based on the evidence gathered. We respect their decision in this matter.
"With regard to Stanford's internal disciplinary proceedings, panels from the Office of Community Standards (OCS) found that students were responsible for violations of university policies and issued sanctions, including two-quarter suspensions followed by probation, delayed degree conferrals, and community service hours."
Rosen said all of the protesters are U.S. citizens.
If convicted, the maximum punishment would be more than three years in prison.
Rosen though said he'd rather see the group plead guilty, pay restitution and be ordered to serve community service.
