All 38 people charged for their actions during April pro-Palestinian protests at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been offered plea deals, a defense attorney tells WRAL News.
Several of the 38 protesters appeared in Orange County court Tuesday. The protesters told WRAL News they are using a "collective defense strategy" to avoid leaving people in the group with more serious charges behind.
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"Collective defense entails that we reject the state's ideas of fairness and justice, because we know what is right," a pro-Palestinian supporter said. "We know what is just, and there is no justice here."
A defense attorney who is part of the team representing the 38 protesters said everyone faces only misdemeanor charges. Almost everyone is charged with second-degree trespassing, and others are charged with resisting a public officer and assault on a government official.
The pleas being offered range from deferred prosecution to conditional discharge, and all plea deals involve community service and/or paying court costs and fines.
Not everyone charged is a student, but many are, the attorney told WRAL News. The group includes students from UNC, Duke University, North Carolina State University and Meredith College.
The attorney told WRAL News all of the protesters believe their actions are protected under the first amendment.
"As we fight for our charges to be dropped, we remain focused on the goal of Palestinian liberation, and we hope to leverage our current situation to galvanize further support for our movement, showing the administration that their oppression will backfire," one protester told WRAL News.
Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman would not comment on the pending cases but emphasized the Orange County District Attorney's Office is looking at the factors in each case individually, which is standard in cases involving protests.
"It's within the prerogative of any defendant to make decisions based on what matters to them, but I want to be clear that, for us, we look at every case on a case by case basis, even if it's multiple cases charged at the same time for similar offenses," Nieman said.
The next court date for the protesters is Aug. 26.
On April 30, law enforcement stormed the campus after days of protests. WRAL News was live at UNC, where police could be seen removing protesters who had set up an encampment at the university in protest of the Israel-Hamas war.
People could be seen with zip ties around their wrists being taken away by police. One person was seen being dragged by police.
The university said 36 people were taken into custody the morning of April 30 because they refused to comply with the university's order to disperse from Polk Place. Twenty-seven people were cited for trespassing. The university said six people were arrested and charged with trespassing.
The group made their first court appearance in May.
The defendants and some of their supporters gathered at the Chapel Hill courthouse Tuesday morning to talk about this case and stand by their message. They’re calling for UNC to cut any financial ties with Israel.
That’s easier said than done. WRAL News looked into UNC’s endowment, finding the most recent financial statement shows money is invested in at least eight different categories.
WRAL News spoke with an education and public policy expert who said tracking every company in those investments is difficult. Right now, 109 Israeli-based companies stocks are listed on one of the U.S. trading markets.