RI Judge Issues ‘Not Guilty’ Verdict for Anti-Israel Student Activists Arrested at Brown University in December
“I think this is a reflection of what nonviolent and peaceful resistance, frankly, is supposed to look like”
A judge in Providence, Rhode Island, has just released more than 40 Brown University students who were arrested in December for trespassing in a campus building. The school did not drop the charges against them, but the judge gave them a free pass.
I’m sure the students will learn a lot from this experience. Also, our justice system treats everyone completely equal under the law, so stop asking questions about it.
The Public’s Radio reported:
Judge issues not guilty filing for 41 Brown University student protesters
A Providence judge has issued a not guilty filing for 41 Brown University pro-Palestinian protestors who were arrested for trespassing last semester.
Judge Nicholas Parrillo said he was going against the objections of the city of Providence and Brown University in issuing the not guilty filing to the protestors because none of them had a criminal record, and because he said he thinks they held a respectful protest.
“I think this is a reflection of what nonviolent and peaceful resistance, frankly, is supposed to look like,” he said.
A not guilty filing means that the students will have to stay out of legal trouble for the next six months. If they do that, the charges against them will be completely cleared after that period of time. An attorney for the students told them it was significant.
The university did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
This was the scene back in December.
This appears to be video of Brown University students being told they would face administrative and legal consequences for remaining in the building past 5pm.
It ends as international students are told they “may experience those…consequences differently if it leads to…” https://t.co/YVT8hHqcGs pic.twitter.com/qt9E0tzKCZ
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) December 12, 2023
Flash forward to now, and there are no consequences.
Brown university refused to drop the charges so the judge issued a not guilty filing for 41 anti-genocide student protestors who were accused of trespassing.
“I think this is a reflection of what nonviolent and peaceful resistance, frankly, is supposed to look like,” he said. pic.twitter.com/VDAxlnzqca
— Eman 🇵🇸 (@emangaza48) May 16, 2024
Thank you for posting this image. Future employers need to know that these applicants were H*tler Youth.
— David Steinberg (@realDSteinberg) May 16, 2024
More from the Brown Daily Herald:
The decision followed three months of deliberations after initial arraignments in February, when all 41 students pled not guilty to charges of “willful trespassing within school buildings,” The Herald previously reported.
“I’m glad my peers and I are not going to have records,” said Kate Kuli ’25, one of the arrested demonstrators. “At the same time, I wish that Brown would have made the decision to drop the charges.”
In April, Brown refused to drop these charges in multiple rounds of negotiations with students encamping in support of divestment, despite a formal recommendation by the Brown University Community Council, a University advisory body.
Three City Council members also urged the Solicitor’s office to drop the charges in an April 29 letter, The Herald previously reported.
A message is being sent here. It’s not the right message, but it’s loud and clear.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
We certainly didn’t see that one coming!
If Brown acts adult, they’ll be suspended at a minimum but preferably expelled. I’m not holding my breath.
.
“Judge Nicholas Parrillo said he was going against the objections of the city of Providence and Brown University in issuing the not guilty filing to the protestors because none of them had a criminal record”
You get (at least) one get out jail free card in Providence if you hate Jews.
I suspect they’ll get more than just a ‘get out of jail free card.’ Like their BLM brethren, they’ll probably sue the city for ‘violating their civil rights’ and get a nice big settlement check. We’re in Bizaro-world and have been for some time.
Of course he did
I think you’ll like this
Met him and General FLynn May 9th in Pennsyltucky…
https://x.com/IvanRaiklin/status/1790813699655061952
Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler is just trying to make it to the 1st Tee on time and ends up with multiple criminal charges including a felony that carries a 20-year prison sentence. Our criminal justice department is in shambles. Policing – particularly in blue cities – is laughably dysfunctional.
If you assault a police officer while you are drunk, then you deserve to lose your tee time at an ultra-rich country club. Since when did the commentators on LI come to the defense of ultra-rich country club Republicans? You know, the Republican e-lite?
Scheffler wasn’t drunk, dumbass. He’s the number one ranked PGA player in the world, and the tee time he was trying to make was his start at the PGA Championship.
Did you eat yet another bowl of stupid for dinner?
So what? That is no excuse at all. He deserves to be treated exactly the same way you or I would be if we tried such a stunt. There is no exception in the law because you want to play a game. And that is all it is.
Can it, Milhouse. JR’s post was full of incorrect statements and he clearly misrepresented the situation.
Do me a favor and point out in my post where I said that Scheffler should be treated any different than the rest of us.
That is, of course, unless the LMPD were being completely incompetent jackwagons, as is their wont.
JR, this site is for adults only. Back to mommy’s basement…
This statement should get the judge thrown off the bench, disbarred, and shunned from polite society.
I guess kidnapping is perfectly fine so long as you don’t injure the victim. And any theft without violence is A-okay! Anything that doesn’t draw blood is good to go!!
According to this judge there do not exist trespass laws, really … because anyone who violates a trespass law non-violently is “innocent”.
And, BTW, a “reflection” is not the same but an opposite-handed mirror image. This judge doesn’t even do English well.
Well, at least the first two. The judge may be a wonderful person, but obviously has no clue about the most fundamental principles of the law.
I’ll add this to Ivan Raiklin list
https://x.com/IvanRaiklin/status/1790813699655061952
@IvanRaiklin
This is exactly why selective enforcement must be an affirmative defense.
Or why it (the persons involved in the selective enforcement) should be brought before another body for punishment.
A vigilance committee?
But if you peaceful walk through the Capitol building (after being let in the building by police) you could spend years behind bars.
Or trespass on the premises of an abortion clinic.
“I think this is a reflection of what nonviolent and peaceful resistance, frankly, is supposed to look like,”
I think this is a reflection of what judicial activism, frankly, does look like.
if words are violence
then according to the same “thinkers”
trespassers are rap ists
oh but only if they are pro americans,,,,,apparently
41 university students and no outsiders.
The narrative preference of legacy media and university administrators being outsider/townies are the driving force behind the protests while students are just peripherals; innocent, naive, bystanders.
Such narratives cloak university DEI indoctrination. It relieves institutions of their greater social responsibility.
As days pass, outsiders finance and co-opt preexisting student groups; antifa militants displace most, but not all, of the student groupings.
From a civil procedure standpoint, I cannot comprehend the judge’s actions.
How can the judge make a factual determination, without giving the state an opportunity to present its evidence.
The state should appeal this decision!
Agreed. He’s essentially granting what amounts to a directed verdict on a record that simply does not support it.
But the will not appeal.
Try that in Louisiana and see how far they’ll get.
The solution is simple. Brown should immediately invite Jared Taylor to speak. These fools will certainly protest in an unlawful manner; thus breaking their promise to stay clean for 6 months. Of course, the judge will probably say that this is exactly the way to break a promise and let them go again.
If I understand the situation the students were not arrested for protesting but for trespassing. It must be one of those hidden penumbras which make trespassing a right.
A lot of people seem to have this weird idea that the first amendment is a license to commit crimes so long as you’re expressing an opinion at the same time.
If Brown truly wants the book thrown at future trespassers all they need to do is post a “Reproductive Health Center” sign on the building once the protesters are inside. That will get those miscreants a legal thrashing. From the DOJ no less.
Brown needs Frat boys
This is RI, so I’m surprised that the judge actually heard any evidence before entering not guilty for the defendants.
these blmplo “protesters” are complicit with those that murdered the hostages taken on oct 7 2023 by the blmplo army
I don’t think this is actually as bad as it is being made out to be. I mean eff these guys, but this doesn’t seem to be as big of a deal to me.
My memory tells me not only that these guys were arrested for having a sit-in within an administration building but also that this particular group wasn’t involved in keeping people out.
Basically, Brown said get out or get arrested. They didn’t leave and got arrested.
Plus, is a not guilty “filing” the correct term for this?
They haven’t been found not guilty. The judge made a filing that they will be IF they keep their noses clean for six months. As they were simply charged with trespassing, w/o having prior arrests, I don’t think that is an uncommon decision. I’ve personally seen it happen before.
So to be clear then you are totes ok if a dozen or more folks occupy your property (petit trespassing) are informed by you the owner/person who holds executive authority for the property that they must depart and refuse (criminal trespass) and that this illegal occupation interrupts your normal business (time is $) and instead of being silent they sing and chant further disturbing your tranquility? No jail time, no conviction is fine with you?
1. They were arrested for trespassing because they remained in the building after working hours when they were ordered to leave. IOW, being after working hours, it didn’t interfere with business at all, much less normal business. They weren’t ordered out for interfering with work.
2. Equivalent to disturbing my peace and tranquility? This was after working hours at a workplace, not someone’s residence to compare to being disturbed at my residence.
3. Whether or not you, me, or someone else is “fine” with the decision (regarding how hard it is on the perpetrators) is immaterial. What matters is whether or not the punishment being deferred, possibly eliminated, is typical for the charges and circumstances presented. I see no claims otherwise for criminal trespassing w/o prior arrests/convictions. Disagreement with this is disagreement with the system in general (too soft on crime), completely separate from worries about bias.
Nice deflection. The question remains. Are you ok with this result and more particularly would you be OK with the result if it was your property?
Personally I could see a conviction and a suspended sentence with probation requirements and the possibility to expunge the record IF all criteria were met. This wasn’t even close.
Finally the distinction you seek to draw between a residence and commercial property doesn’t exist. Property rights at base are the rights of the owner/executive to occupy which is also the right to exclude others from the property. Business hours? Nah, if we follow that logic then you are minimizing the impact of a criminal trespass at a residence during ‘working hours’. Another distinction that doesn’t exist.
Did it occur to you that normal business includes cleaning & maintenance after hours?
If the school is serious, they don’t need a judge to expel the miscreants, especially the foreign born students.
Some protesters for any cause should get together and “peacefully protest” in or on the judges private property, and not leave when asked.
The Judge put his judgement above that of the involved parties. So it’s okay for leftist Brown students to occupy any university building at will, as long as the Judge approves of their behavior. Such admirable judicial temperment Crimes will now be judged on an individual basis by individual judges, depending on what the particular Judge thinks of the perp’s deportrment. Yeah, that sounds fair.
“Also, our justice system treats everyone completely equal under the law, so stop asking questions about it.”
I am surprised that no one beat me to this, but . . .
Some people are more equal than others.
There is no objective law, it is all subjective, The lesson taught here is to do anything to be in a subjectively superior position.
Subotai Bahadur
Another lesson would be to pick the jurisdiction for your indiscretions carefully.
Having your case(s) routed to an agenda over justice progressive judge doesn’t hurt either.
“… he thinks they held a respectful protest.”
Trespassing & etc. is now “respectful.”
Anyone surprised the inhuman pos who abolished property rights in Rhode Island conditional on himself agreeing with the tresspasers is a Democrat?
There are no elections to any executive position or that hold any degree of power that could be won that you have an excuse for not voting Republican for, go get your id and go vote straight ticket Republican even if you don’t like everyone on the ticket.