Group of Pro-Palestinian protesters who stormed, occupied Stanford president's office arraigned on felony charges
Eleven Stanford students charged with felony trespassing were in a Santa Clara County courtroom Monday morning. This comes after a grand jury indicted the students last week with one count each of conspiracy to trespass and vandalism.
A rally supporting the Pro-Palestinian protesters was held after Monday's arraignment.
A November 17 trial date has been set for eight of the 11 protesters. A later date will be set for the other three protesters.
The students were initially charged in April of conspiracy to trespass and vandalism. Now last week's indictment supersedes that.
RELATED: DA charges 12 Stanford pro-Palestinian protesters with felonies for vandalism, trespassing
A deputy district attorney told The Mercury News that they presented the case to a grand jury to get the case to trial as soon as possible.
The protesters are accused of breaking into and vandalizing the Stanford university president's office during the protest back in June 2024 .
Attorneys and supporters of the protesters say the DA presenting the case to the grand jury was secretive and deviates from Standard court procedures, attorneys saying they wanted a preliminary hearing.
"Why did they not want a public process? To demonstrate whether they had probable cause to keep continue these charges, to continue this political prosecution. One must ask. At a preliminary hearing, we would have been able to question the witnesses that the prosecution has against our clients. We would have been able to question the evidence. None of that was possible," said attorney EmilyRose Johns.
RELATED: Stanford students arrested for barricading in president's office, allegedly leaving 'vile' graffiti
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen has accused those students of causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to Stanford's Building 10.
Rosen said that in the process, the group broke windows, furniture, disabled a camera and splashed fake blood.
He said the damages are estimated to be between $360,000 to $1 million, though an attorney for some of those protesters questioned that at the rally today.
We asked the DA's office if they would like to respond to Monday's rally.
A spokesperson declined, saying "Our case is our response."
