Felony Charges Against Golden Gate Bridge Protesters Can Go to Trial, Judge Rules

A San Francisco judge ruled Friday that felony charges against seven activists involved in a pro-Palestinian protest that shut down the Golden Gate Bridge in April can go to trial, but over half of the charges were dropped.

More than a month after the protesters’ preliminary hearing began, Judge Brendan P. Conroy threw out more than 25 counts against seven of the eight defendants — and charges against one of the defendants entirely — due to lack of evidence.

But he declined defense attorneys’ motion to downgrade the felony conspiracy charges, saying there had not been enough discussion about how the Golden Gate Bridge Authority and potential other alleged victims in the case would be compensated for their losses due to the protest.

“The elephant in the room here is that there is a request for at least $160,000 in restitution,” Conroy said, referring to the Golden Gate Bridge Authority’s estimate of lost revenue from toll payments.

The eight activists face the most serious charges — including felony conspiracy — out of the 26 who were arrested in connection with the protest that shut down traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. Their actions were part of a multi-city effort to disrupt local and global economies and put pressure on the U.S. government to halt support for Israel’s war in Gaza, which it launched after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Around 7:30 a.m. on April 15, the protesters chained themselves to stopped vehicles and each other across the southbound lanes of the bridge, according to a statement from the California Highway Patrol. The demonstration shut down traffic in both directions for about four hours.

“Their actions affected the community in real and tangible ways,” Assistant District Attorney Angela Roze argued during the hearing.

She said that multiple people whose routes were blocked by the protest missed medical appointments, and one missed a day of teaching children.

Conroy said that he would have given greater consideration to the request to downgrade the felony conspiracy charges since the defendants’ actions were “well-intended” and didn’t appear to stem from malice, but the “considerable amount of restitution” stopped him.

Jeff Wozniak, the lead attorney for the protesters, said the hearing was still a significant win.

“For three-quarters of the charges, there was not enough evidence — even at this stage of a preliminary hearing, where the standard of evidence is very low — for the judge to hold those clients to those charges,” Wozniak said. “This case was overcharged, and it’s been a humongous waste of resources. They have likely spent more than the bridge authority is asking for just to prosecute this case.”

The San Francisco public defender’s office agreed.

“The court’s, and the DA’s, dismissal of the vast majority of the charges against Golden Gate Bridge protesters today is a huge vindication of our position that the DA drastically overcharged these cases,” Deputy Public Defender Nuha Abusamra, one of the attorneys defending the protesters, said in a statement.

The district attorney’s office dropped 12 of its false imprisonment counts earlier in the hearing without providing evidence. An additional 11 were dismissed by Conroy, who said that the evidence provided lacked necessary information related to the time and place of the alleged imprisonment.

He also dropped a misdemeanor charge against all but one of the defendants who alleged they failed to comply with a peace officer, saying there was no evidence provided through law enforcement officers’ testimony that seven of the defendants were told directly to disperse.

It’s still possible that the felony charges could be downgraded as the case plays out.

The defendants have been ordered to appear for an arraignment on Dec. 6, where the defense said it plans to ask the judge for a restitution hearing to get a true estimation of the money requested by any victims. The district attorney’s office could not give an exact amount for the bridge authority’s losses, which defense attorneys called speculative. The figure also does not factor in whether individuals who were allegedly falsely imprisoned will seek monetary relief.

After requesting the restitution hearing, defense attorneys plan to reintroduce their motion to recategorize the felony conspiracy charges to misdemeanors.

“We are not interested in continuing to utilize these court resources, city and county resources. Folks want to get back on the street and demand a ceasefire, demand an end to genocide,” Wozniak said. “The district attorney wanted a holding order today, and that’s what happened, but we’re going to continue fighting this case. We’re going to show that there is not much restitution that needs to be paid and get this case dismissed.”