Three of the original defendants in the Stanford 11 case – Cameron Pennington, Kaiden Wang and Gretchen Rose Guimarin – formally entered no contest pleas to the conspiracy and vandalism charges against them Monday morning. Santa Clara County Judge Deborah A. Ryan reduced the protesters’ felony charges to misdemeanors late last year.
The three defendants have been ordered to perform community service and pay restitution as determined by the court after a full hearing. The sentencing date is scheduled for September 9 at 1:30 p.m. at the Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Eleven protesters who barricaded themselves inside the President’s Office in June 2024 were initially indicted, and five of them decided to continue to trial rather than accepting alternative paths. These five defendants’ trial ended in a mistrial on Feb. 13 due to a hung jury, but Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said the prosecution will seek to re-try the case once the court reconvenes on Feb. 25.
“This case is about a group of people who destroyed someone else’s property and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage,” Rosen said following Judge Hanley Chew’s declaration of a mistrial. “That is against the law and that is why we will retry the case.”
The defendants who pleaded no contest were among the six who accepted alternative paths after their indictment. The five defendants who proceeded to trial – German Gonzalez, Maya Burke, Taylor McCann, Hunter Taylor Black and Amy Zhai – risk up to three years in prison in addition to a required restitution payment of $300,000.
Three other defendants – Isabella Terrazas, Eliana Fuchs and Zoe Edelman – were granted mental health diversions last year, in which they can receive treatment instead of facing traditional criminal penalties.
“We continue to stand with all of the defendants and support the legal strategy they have chosen,” Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) member Amanda Campos ’26 said. “We call on the community to keep supporting the remaining five students and alumni, on the DA’s office to drop the remaining charges and on Stanford University to drop its restitution demand.”