A Knox County grand jury could determine whether a group of protesters will be tried on criminal charges after their arrests during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Eleven people, including students and local residents, were arrested May 15 on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespassing during a peaceful demonstration on the University of Tennessee College of Law lawn. University officials notified them that they were trespassing on the law college lawn and previously restricted demonstrators to a designated area outside the Student Union.
During a June 24 hearing, Judge Judson Kyle Davis commended the group of demonstrators for their bravery, but said it was not his position to make a decision based on emotion.
“All I have to consider is the statute of criminal trespassing. There have been some good arguments that were obviously very well studied, and some of those arguments are hard for me to disagree with, but it's not something for me to consider. I think it's more of a jury question,“ Davis said.
During the preliminary hearing, defense attorneys for eight of the demonstrators argued UT administrators violated the constitutional rights of the demonstrators, including students with families impacted by the Gaza conflict. The attorneys said that free speech and First Amendment protections were at stake.
Defense attorney Mike Whalen argued that despite some accommodations, the university's restrictions violated rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Whalen also said the student protestors were no different than those who came before them, and many were personally affected by the ongoing war, losing loved ones in the conflict between Gaza and Israel.
“They sat quietly on the lawn and prayed and chanted. I would argue that what they did had power. Nothing happens if none of this happens. It just continues but these folks paid attention," Whalen said. "That’s how South Africa changed. They asked, 'Why is our university spending money with people enslaving people in South Africa?' This was a determined group of people who said, 'You are wrong, you should change and we will come back every day until you do.' That’s what happened."
Seven witnesses from the University of Tennessee testified, including Interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Allen Bolton and officers from the University of Tennessee Police Department. Bolton, who issued a 10-minute dispersal warning to the group around 8 p.m. May 15, testified administrators decided to arrest the protesters after concluding the group's actions were escalating. Bolton instructed UTPD Chief Sean Patterson to carry out the arrests.
During cross-examination, Whalen asked Bolton about the number of police present May 15 and the extra body armor they were wearing, and whether Bolton was aware of the show of force used that night.
“Yes, they were prepared for protestors,” Bolton said.
Bolton testified that complaints from university administrators about demonstrators on the law school lawn led to treating that protest differently that night. He noted the school had been monitoring the demonstrators' social media for days.
UTPD Chief Sean Patterson told the court that no arrests were made on a previous night when protesters had stayed past a 10 p.m. curfew due to limited police manpower because of a concurrent Zach Bryan concert at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
During closing arguments, assistant district attorney Kevin Teeters said, "These are great arguments by my friends. But this group was asked not once, but twice to leave and they did not. This is about did they leave when they were instructed to do so? They chose not to. They wanted to be arrested. They wanted the publicity."
What's next in the case?
After the judge's ruling, it will be up to the Knox County District Attorney’s office whether to take the case to a grand jury.
Defense attorney Dillon Zinser told Knox News that process could take weeks or even months. If the grand jury finds probable cause, an indictment will be issued and criminal court proceedings will commence.
“I’m of the opinion that all of us will be having a jury trial in this case. Because the DA’s office has chosen not to dismiss this case thus far, I don’t see why they would do so in criminal court," Zinser said.
"But I am encouraged by today’s hearing because we got a lot of good points on the record and we shed light on a lot of the evidence. We showed the court that all of the defense attorneys and the protestors are a unified front and we have a shared defense, so if we are going to go to trial, we will all be going together."
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