After a series of court appearances over three months, the two graduate students arrested in the first moments of Princeton’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” pled guilty to a municipal noise ordinance on Tuesday.
By accepting the deal offered by Municipal Prosecutor Christopher Koutsouris, they will each pay $33 in court fees. Judge John McCarthy III ’69 waived the accompanying $100 municipal noise ordinance fines for each person.
“My clients just want to move on with their lives,” said Omar Qadeer, the attorney representing the two students, Hassan Sayed GS and Achinthya Sivalingam GS ’24.
Sayed and Sivalingam were arrested in McCosh Courtyard for erecting tents during the beginning of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the morning of April 25. While several protesters attempted to set up tents, and others chanted and banged on buckets — Sayed and Sivalingam set up two tents. Sayed is a Ph.D. candidate in the economics department, and Sivalingam has since graduated.
The plea deal changed their charge from defiant trespassing — a low-level petty disorderly persons offense — to a violation of a Princeton municipal ordinance about “disturb[ing] the public peace and quiet by loud, boisterous, or vulgar conduct.”
“What’s alleged is that the conduct disturbed the peace,” Koutsouris clarified to the court.
In New Jersey, a plea agreement must have a “factual basis,” and judges can reject a deal if they determine that it is too lenient. McCarthy asked Sayed and Sivalingam a series of questions to determine whether there was a factual basis for their plea agreement to be based on a noise ordinance.
Koutsouris told McCarthy, “Based on the record, they were extremely loud in their actions.”
When Sivalingam affirmed that she had disturbed the public peace, Koutsouris asked, “Are you sure? Because it sounds a little equivocal, so you gotta be sure.”
“She said yes, Your Honor,” Qadeer replied.
The deal stands in contrast to McCarthy’s refusal to grant the same plea deal for the same defiant trespassing charge to six of the protesters who occupied Clio Hall in late April. McCarthy repeatedly noted that he viewed the two incidents as completely different circumstances.
In a statement to The Daily Princetonian, Sivalingam wrote, “The judge’s double standard between the two cases was unjust. Hassan and I were allowed to take a plea deal in lieu of a defiant trespassing charge, whereas activists involved in the Clio Hall sit-in were not — despite being charged with the same defiant trespassing.”
She added, “There was no justice in the courtroom today.”
Olivia Sanchez is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from New Jersey and often covers the graduate school and academic departments.
Miriam Waldvogel is an associate News editor and the investigations editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Stockton, Calif. and often covers campus activism and University accountability.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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