Overview
- The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office rested its case after calling California Highway Patrol officers, bridge staff and motorists to describe the April 2024 shutdown and its effects.
- A CHP digital-crimes investigator testified that phone extractions using Cellebrite and Magnet GrayKey produced no communications tying defendants to one another, a gap that could undercut the prosecution’s conspiracy theory.
- Defendants have begun giving necessity-style testimony saying they believed the blockade was needed to prevent deaths in Gaza, with some saying they expected their actions to save lives.
- Prosecutors and defense lawyers disputed law enforcement choices from the day of the protest, including testimony that CHP did not try to open an extra southbound lane with a zipper truck and instead called a Sacramento team to cut chains.
- Six other people from the larger group faced dropped or reduced charges and many took diversion deals, while the seven on trial face felony conspiracy counts that carry prison terms far stiffer than penalties in past local protest cases.