UC protesters charges: dropped or dismissed?

Article Last Updated:
Tuesday, June 11, 2002 - 3:09:12 AM MST

UC protesters charges: dropped or dismissed?
By William Brand
Staff Writer

BERKELEY -- All 79 demonstrators arrested in the boisterous April 9 pro-Palestinian sit-in at Wheeler Hall on the University of California, Berkeley, campus have paid fines to settle the charges against them.

Or did they pay court costs of $3,000 to have the charges dismissed?

Defense and the prosecuting attorneys disagree on the specifics.

The protesters were fined, said Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Stuart Hing.

He said the majority of the group, which included students and nonstudents, paid $25 fines each for trespassing and disturbing classes inside Wheeler Hall.

Demonstrators who resisted arrest paid $50 fines, Hing said.

One demonstrator, Roberto Hernandez, 23, paid a $750 fine. Hernandez, a UC Berkeley graduate student, was charged with misdemeanor assault for biting one of the arresting officers.

But the students' attorney strongly disagrees with Hing's account. "The charges were dismissed and court costs were paid," said attorney Seth Chazin, of Albany. "You can't pay a fine for charges that were dismissed. That's the law." Students, meanwhile, claimed they didn't pay fines at all. "We paid court costs and the charges were dropped," said Snehal Shingavi, one of the protesters, and a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, sponsor of the rally.

Hing demurred.

"They have the right to call it anything they want," Hing said. But Judge Jon Tiger assessed fines. He said the students paid their fines last Friday with one check for more than $3,000. Charges were dismissed after the fines were paid, Hing said.

Students usually demonstrate in an administrative building, Hing said, but for some reason they chose a building where classes were in session, disrupting at least one midterm exam.

The 41 students arrested in the three-hour sit-in still face disciplinary charges from UC Berkeley.

University spokeswoman Marie Felde said students will receive letters later this week from the student affairs office summarizing conclusions of a university investigation and informing them of violations of the student code of conduct that may have been committed.

Penalties could range from letters of reprimand to suspension.