[UPDATED with Delay:] "Irvine 11" (-1) Case Heads for Trial
 |
That didn't happen.
Trial has been rescheduled to Aug. 29, which is when jury selection is scheduled to begin.
Opening statements are expected the week after that in Judge Peter Wilson's courtroom., which puts the case into September.
The students facing misdemeanor charges--and threatened jail time--hail from the UC's of Irvine and Riverside, of course.
Fall quarter classes begin Sept. 22 at UCI and UCR.
UPDATE, JULY 21, 3:25 P.M.: The Irvine 11 may soon become the Irvine 10.
If Hakim Nasreddine Kebir completes 40 hours of community service at the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa by Sept. 23, the 20-year-old will be removed from the controversial case pending in Orange County Superior Court, the prosecution and Kebir's defense attorney agreed today.
Kebir was among 11 Muslim students from the UCs of Irvine and Riverside facing misdemeanor conspiracy and disruption of a public meeting charges related to the repeated interruption of a February 2010 speech at UCI by Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren.
Trial is still on schedule to begin August 15 in Judge Peter Wilson's courtroom.
 |
| OC Bar Association |
| Judge Peter Wilson |
Wilson ordered the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) to remove lead investigator Paul Kelly, Assistant DA Mike Lubinski and Senior Assistant DA's William Feccia and Rebecca Olivieri off the misdemeanor criminal case against 11 Muslims students from UC Irvine and UC Riverside accused of disrupting a February 2010 speech at UCI by Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren.
Of course, the defense wanted the entire OCDA kicked off the case.
The cause for what the defense did get, as reported by the Daily Report: prosecutors obtained and built part of the OCDA case around 20,000 pages of privileged documents between the students and their lawyers.
Within that batch is an email between defense attorney Reem Salahi and her student client that the OCDA used to bring new charges against the student, the judge found.
Wilson found such tactics did not warrant full removal of the OCDA, but the judge did order prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any evidence presented at trial is not privileged or illegally obtained.
Meanwhile, it sounds like a certain corner of the Civic Center office needs a refresher course: Wilson said Kelly seemed unaware of the protocols that must be followed when coming across privileged attorney-client communications, the Pilot reports.
More fun in Wilson's court is scheduled at 9 a.m. July 21. The trial is to begin in August.
 |
Attorneys for the so-called "Irvine 11," who are enrolled at UCI and UC Riverside, argued that charges could not be brought against the students because the February 2010 address by Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., was political.
But Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson ruled political meetings are covered by the section of the California Penal Code the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) cited in its misdemeanor criminal counts against the Muslim students.
More motions are to be heard June 30, and the trial is expected to begin Aug. 15. The students have pleaded not guilty.
 |
| Liroff |
He'll now match legal wits with another veteran homicide prosecutor as Lane Liroff has joined the defense team for the 11 UC Irvine and UC Riverside students facing jail time for disrupting Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren's UCI speech last year.
 |
| Wagner |
He had a rocky exit as political foes within the DA's office tried without success to prevent the Board of Supervisors from honoring Liroff with a plaque for his 30 years of service to Santa Clara County, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
He'll get to exchange winks with Wagner on Aug. 15, when the Irvine 11 trial is scheduled to begin.
 |
Lawyers representing the 11 UC Irvine and UC Riverside students facing jail time for disrupting Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren's UCI speech last year had moved to unseal the documents. But Wilson ruled doing so would expose the prosecution's argument in the misdemeanor case.
The Orange County Peace Coalition led a demonstration outside the Santa Ana courthouse. Visitors to the courtroom included Chuck Anderson of the ACLU's Orange County chapter and Jim Gilchrist of the Minuteman Project.
Wonder if they carpooled?
UPDATE, MAY 25, 4:31 P.M.: Another hearing, another excuse to gag yourself.
The "Irvine 11," the nickname for the student protesters facing jail time for disrupting Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren's UC Irvine speech last year, have a 9 a.m. date before an Orange County Superior Court judge Thursday.
About a hour before that, members and supporters of the Orange County Peace Coalition plan to show up in front of the Santa Ana courthouse. You can't miss 'em: they'll be the ones with mouths gagged.
 |
| Photos by Christopher Victorio/OC Weekly |
| Demonstrators at the Irvine 11's arraignment in Santa Ana, where blue duct tape sales must be soaring. |
"UCI administrators have failed to grant students their constitutional rights to free speech," the statement continues. "Freedom of speech, protest and assembly are a fiction when the cost of exercising these fundamental rights is expulsion and the derailing of an education leading to a career as a productive member of society."
It's a mystery how the ire has shifted from the Orange County District Attorney's office, which is pursuing misdemeanor criminal charges against the eight UCI students and three from UC Riverside, to UCI, which has already punished the campus Muslim Student Union over the Oren interruptions and opposed to the current prosecution.
Ah well, the Orange County Peace Coalition invites anyone reading this to join them tomorrow morning "in defense of the rights of free speech and protest and the ideal that all universities must remain a bastion of the free exchange of ideas."
They expect to be at the courthouse, 700 W. Civic Center Dr., Santa Ana, until 10 a.m.
 |
Perhaps it's appropriate, then, that the judge in the case has just issued an order to essentially shut the fuck up.
Judge Peter J. Wilson in Santa Ana has granted a motion sought by defense attorneys for the Muslim students--eight from UC Irvine, three from UC Riverside--to stop prosecutors from making any more public statements about the case.
The defense had accused police, lead prosecutor Dan Wagner and others in the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) of tainting the jury pool by labeling the student defendants as anti-Semitic, declaring them guilty and other "ethically irresponsible" statements. The judge's ruling prevents the OCDA from talking with the media or others about the case.
The OCDA has denied those defense assertions, most strongly any attempts to brand this a religiously fueled prosecution. The defense also alleges OCDA bias because the subject line of an email prosecutors sent to the students' lawyers referred to it as the "UCI Muslim Case."
The OCDA has countered that there are two separate cases proceeding against student demonstrators at UCI--for demonstrations that happened around the same time even--and the title merely sought to differentiate between the one involving Muslim Student Union members disrupting a Feb. 8, 2010, speech on campus by Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren and another in the administration building over different issues like racism and rising fees in the UC system.
The students have pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor conspiracy to commit a crime and misdemeanor disruption of a meeting. Each could get up to six months in jail if convicted. Trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 15.
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
