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The felony trial against five Stanford University protesters, charged with conspiracy and vandalism after they allegedly broke into the school president’s office in June 2024, progressed this week with attorneys unveiling evidence from the protest and presenting surveillance video that showed an officer cursing at a student during the subsequent arrest.
The defendants – German Gonzalez, Maya Burke, Taylor McCann, Amy Jing Zhai and Hunter Taylor-Black – are being charged after a group of protesters broke a window, spilled fake blood and piled up furniture to protest the war in Gaza and demand their university divest from companies supplying military aid to Israel. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen initially charged 11 protesters, but five of them ended up accepting misdemeanor pleas or diversion programs and one opted to work with the prosecution.
The trial opened on Monday with the two sides painting contrasting pictures of the students’ actions. While the prosecution characterized them as a property crime, the defense suggested that the students were conducting a peaceful sit-in. Evidence from the June 5, 2024 arrest dominated the trial on Tuesday and Wednesday as both legal teams evaluated and submitted surveillance video, police officer body camera footage and photographic evidence for multiple hours.
This includes footage that depicted police verbally abusing a student and using profanity on multiple occasions before turning off their body cameras.
“Don’t get arrested, b—h,” one officer said to a student.
Jason Barnes, a patrol officer with the Stanford University Public Safety Department who testified on Tuesday and Wednesday, said that the profane behavior was not “commonplace.”
Following the comment, officer Chris Mazzone pointed to the speaker’s body camera with a “surprised” look, said Barnes, who was asked to narrate the footage.
Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker, who is leading the prosecution, confirmed with Barnes that arresting officers did not draw guns on students nor did they use a “tightening” handcuff mechanism.
“It’s not all about making arrests, that’s actually a small percentage of it … We’re there for them,” Barnes said, explaining his role as university public safety officer.
Jurors also heard witness testimony that confirmed the identities of some people inside of the office building during the June 5, 2024 occupation.
John Richardson, the only protester not affiliated with Stanford, sided with the prosecution months before the trial and testified for the first time on Wednesday. Richardson, who was tasked with covering surveillance cameras inside of the president’s building, confirmed that the defendants were inside the building on the day of the occupation. But he said he did not physically see any of them break in.
“I don’t remember much detail from our first interaction,” Richardson said about his fellow protestors.
While Richardson said the defendants spoke about the occupation for about a week on encrypted messaging application Signal, he said he did not remember how he first entered the group chat.
Richardson, who attends college in southern California, said that he had participated in various Pro-Palestine demonstrations in the past.
On the first day of trial, Baker asked the jury not to consider the morality of the students, but to assess whether or not they damaged the building. The university originally estimated $700,000 in repairs, but a more detailed investigation concluded that $300,000 in damage could be attributed to the protesters, Baker wrote in court documents.
Some damage included a bent metal bar used to open doors, and two chipped door frames that cost $12,000 to repair, according to the prosecution.
“This was an attempted extortion,” Baker said during his opening statements.
Graffiti on the outside of the building could not be tied to protesters, according to attorneys. Students who were marching outside of the building were not affiliated with protesters occupying the building, Richardson said.
Defense attorneys called the felony charges “extreme” and maintained that the students believed their actions could help save lives in Palestine. The protests came after the university refused to engage the students in conversations about possible divestment. Protestors had hoped to engage in negotiations regarding divestment with university administrators after they occupied the building, according to defense attorneys.
“They were heartbroken to find out that that university was funding genocide,” defense attorney Margaret Trask said during her opening statement on Monday.
On top of the criminal charges, Stanford University suspended students for two quarters, required community service hours and is demanding $300,000 plus restitution from the group.
Both parties agreed that protesters organized the action, but defense pointed to evidence like Signal messages, cleaning solutions and wiped-up blood, suggesting that they attempted to minimize harm, clean up damage and prevent graffiti to the outside of the building.
The trial was scheduled to resume for a half day on Thursday before taking a recess on Friday.
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