Mistrial declared in case of students charged after Stanford pro-Palestinian protests

WASHINGTON – A judge declared a mistrial on Feb 13 in a case of five current and former Stanford University students related to the

2024 pro-Palestinian protests,

when demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the school president’s office.

Twelve protesters were

initially charged in 2025

with felony vandalism, according to prosecutors, who said at least one suspect entered the building by breaking a window. Police arrested 13 people on June 5, 2024, in relation to the incident, and the university said the building underwent “extensive” damage.

The case was tried in Santa Clara County Superior Court against five defendants charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass. The rest previously accepted plea deals or diversion programmes.

The jury was deadlocked. It voted nine to three to convict on the felony charge of vandalism and eight to four to convict on the felony charge to trespass.

Jurors failed to reach a verdict after deliberations. The charges were among the most serious against participants in the 2024 pro-Palestinian protest movement in US colleges, in which demonstrators demanded an end to Israel’s war in Gaza and Washington’s support for its ally, along with a divestment of funds by their universities from companies supporting Israel.

Prosecutors in the case said the defendants engaged in unlawful property destruction.

“This case is about a group of people who destroyed someone else’s property and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. That is against the law,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement, adding he sought a new trial.

Mr Anthony Brass, a lawyer for one of the protesters, told The New York Times his side was defending not lawlessness, but “the concept of transparency and ethical investment”.

“This is a win for these young people of conscience and a win for free speech,” Mr Brass said, adding that “humanitarian activism has no place in a criminal courtroom”.

Protesters had renamed the building “Dr Adnan’s Office” after Dr Adnan Al-Bursh, a Palestinian doctor who died in an Israeli prison after months of detention. More than 3,000 were arrested during the 2024 US pro-Palestinian protest movement, according to media tallies.

Some students faced suspension, expulsion and degree revocation. REUTERS