Judge dismisses 30 counts of trespassing against pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University building

NEW YORK — A New York judge on Thursday dismissed trespassing charges against 30 people who were among dozens arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in April at Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall, prosecutors citing a lack of evidence.

Charges still remain against 15 of the 46 people initially arrested, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were accused of entering the university’s Hamilton Hall without permission on April 30 and barricading themselves inside before the university requested assistance from the New York City Police Department. After they were removed from the building, many of them were charged with third-degree trespassing, a Class B misdemeanor.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at the time that he wanted to review each case and make decisions based on facts and law. In the past, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has declined or stayed prosecution of cases in which large numbers of people were arrested as part of civil disobedience.

During Thursday’s court hearing, Judge Kevin McGrath dismissed 30 counts of trespassing against people who had no criminal history. Another defendant’s case was previously dismissed, leaving a total of 31 people no longer facing charges.

“At the time the charges were committed, the defendants were either employees or students enrolled at Columbia University and are now subject to disciplinary proceedings as students or employees,” the Manhattan District Attorney’s press release said.

In his motion to dismiss the charges, Assistant District Attorney Stephen Millan on Thursday cited “extremely limited video footage,” adding that “the surveillance cameras were immediately obscured by certain defendants,” whose identities prosecutors do not know.

The available video evidence could “neither establish nor prove” that the 31 people were involved in damaging university property or harming people. For this reason, it would be difficult for prosecutors to prove anything other than trespassing in the case, the prosecutor’s office said.

When contacted by CNN on Thursday, Columbia University declined to comment on the litigation.

Fourteen of the defendants still charged – 12 of whom were neither Columbia University employees nor students – have been offered an adjournment to dismiss the case, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said. An adjournment allows a court to postpone a defendant’s case – with the possibility that charges against the defendant will be dropped – if the defendant commits no further crimes.

But the defendants rejected the offer, they said at a press conference outside the courtroom after Thursday’s hearing, speaking to protesters wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian headscarf.

“We stand here today united by our action and the Palestinian cause,” said one of the protesters. “The state has once again attempted to divide us – by dismissing some of our cases and making offers to others that align with their outside agitator narrative,” adding that they reject the division, which they say is intended to “preserve the sanctity of Columbia University, which is not an institution in the City of New York, but always stands above and separate from it.”

“All of us who participated in the liberation of Hind’s Hall were driven by the same need to escalate the situation, to escalate for Gaza, and to resist the cruel genocide of our brothers and sisters in Palestine,” the protester continued, referring to Hamilton Hall by another name given to it by protesters.

“We have exercised our collective right to oppose the U.S. war machine by focusing our forces on the Columbia years, one of its best-oiled domestic components.”

The protester said the defendants had rejected the agreements unanimously in order to form a “common front against state oppression.”

The 14 defendants must appear in court again on July 25.

A 15th defendant, 40-year-old James Carlson, was arrested for burglary at Columbia University. The Manhattan district attorney has charged him with third-degree trespassing, court records show. He also faces arson charges stemming from a separate incident. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges, court records show.

The district attorney said the students whose cases were dismissed were facing school disciplinary proceedings.

CNN’s Emma Tucker contributed to this report.

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