The Columbus City Attorney is offering plea deals to protesters who were arrested on Ohio State's campus in April and some of the pro-Palestinian protesters have already decided to take the deal.
Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein is offering a deal that if protesters plead guilty, their charge will be reduced from a fourth-degree misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge to a minor misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. Another piece of the deal being worked on would create a diversion program for those affiliated with the university to avoid a criminal conviction altogether.
If a plea deal is taken, the charge would be eligible for expungement after six months if the person does not reoffend.
Three of the 39 peaceful protesters pleaded guilty this week to one minor misdemeanor count each of disorderly conduct under the deal. Another protester had already pleaded guilty last week to the criminal trespassing charge. They were each charged $50.
Klein said he decided not to drop charges because he believed those arrested for a crime should be held accountable in some way. Klein faced pressure to drop the charges by many who participated in the protests.
"There needed to be a level of accountability. But also, we need to respect the First Amendment and give the safe spaces for people to protest and balancing all those and crafting a plea offer for all the defendants," Klein said.
Defense attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
Klein said the city will still pursue charges for those who don't accept a plea deal. He said he will not seek jail time for defendants, but the trespassing charge does carry with it a possible sentence of up to 30 days in jail.
Demonstrations started on Ohio State University's campus just days after the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas and the start of Israel's military response days later.
The protests peaked on April 25 when hundreds of people gathered on the South Oval hours after Ohio State University police arrested three people earlier in the day. Police broke up the large demonstration just after nightfall, arresting dozens more demonstrators.
The protests remained peaceful. The demonstrators set up tents in the middle of the crowd, which OSU officials said violated the university's space rules policy.
Klein said he got a wide range of input from the community while considering whether to pursue the cases. He said some asked him to drop all the charges while other groups asked him to be less lenient with those arrested.
"So I've heard everything from one, from both extremes and in between," Klein said.
Klein said he came to this decision after consulting with both Ohio State University and defense attorneys for the defendants.
Klein said a different approach is being considered for protesters affiliated with OSU, because he believes they deserved more sympathy because they were protesting on their own campus.
In a statement issued after the arrests, OSU said 20 of the people arrested are unaffiliated with the university and 16 were students or staff. A vast majority of those arrested that were unaffiliated were either from the Columbus area or from another city in Ohio.
Klein gave himself as an example as an OSU alum and said he would consider himself different from students enrolled at OSU or people who are paid by the university and participating in a demonstration.
"To me, decisions had to be made and drawing the line of folks that were employed or related to the university or affiliated with university at the time of the arrest. (It) was a reasonable line to be drawn, versus someone like me who's a proud alum, but graduated 20 years ago. Like outside of my love and affinity for the university, I don't have any direct relationship other than just the fact that I graduated there," Klein said.
Klein said for this diversion program, those affiliated with the university may have to "jump through some hoops" to qualify. He said his office and defense attorneys have not completely ironed that out yet.
All of the cases have been assigned to several different Franklin County judges and the remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to their charges.
