‘Insufficient evidence’: DA drops cases of 27 pro-Palestine protesters arrested at Cal Poly Humboldt

The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office dropped 27 cases regarding people arrested at Cal Poly Humboldt during a pro-Palestine occupation at the university in April.

Some of the cases “have been rejected for filing of charges based upon insufficient evidence to prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt and/or interests of justice grounds,” District Attorney Stacey Eads said in an email Monday.

Eads said her office received 39 referrals from Cal Poly Humboldt’s police department, 27 of which the DA’s office refused to move forward. The remainder are being referred back to the Cal Poly Humboldt University Police Department for further investigation, she said.

“I will not list the names of persons not being charged, nor those pending further investigation, but they can, of course, reach out to my office at 707-445-7411 to inquire about the status of their referral,” she said in an email Tuesday, and declined to answer other questions about the cases.

The roughly week-long occupation of Siemens Hall began with an April 22 clash between protesters and police, a response recently criticized by Eureka’s police auditor for a lack of planning. Multiple protesters interviewed by the Times-Standard during the occupation said they were galvanized to continue and ramp up the occupation, which called from divestment from Israel and an end to the war in Gaza, after seeing police hit protesters with batons and shields April 22.

The occupation was broken up after the university called in a massive police effort from 25-30 agencies — a group of people were arrested in the quad with arms linked. About 30 people were arrested over the occupation, including three on April 22, with a total of 39 referred to the Humboldt County District Attorney’s office.

While the university recommended charges including trespassing, occupying a property without consent, resisting an officer, remaining present at an unlawful assembly and obstructing a student or teacher, according to a May email from a spokesperson from the university, a bundle of the protesters’ cases now won’t be moving forward.

The university did not provide a request for comment before the Times-Standard print deadline.

“It’s good news, we haven’t heard much of anything in a long time,” Rick Toledo, an organizer with the Students for Democratic Society, said when reached by phone Tuesday.

He said it’s been difficult for people to get information on their cases this summer since being arrested three months ago.

The DA’s office received some reports from the university in May.

“I’m just hoping that the charges will be dropped against all the students, including the pending cases,” said Toledo, who helped organize a campaign for people to email Eads to drop the charges.

The Cal Poly Humboldt University Senate passed a resolution in May calling on Eads to drop all charges on students and the faculty member arrested.

Sage Alexander can be reached at 707-441-0504.