After a full two days of closing statements, the defense and prosecution have rested their cases and finished their closing statements. The fate of the ‘Irvine 11′ now rests in the jury’s hands. Deliberations began at approximately 4:25PM today.

Defense attorneys Lisa Holder, Jacqueline Goodman, Tarek Shawky, and Dan Stormer presented their closing arguments today. Ms. Holder pointed out that the students were being criminalized not because of what they did but because of who they are and what they said; “You cannot divorce the content from the conduct,” she stated.

Yesterday, prosecution attorney Dan Wagner claimed that a person’s right to “free speech is not absolute.” Yet today he stated the ’11’ were being tried because they encroached upon that uncertain right to free speech that Ambassador Michael Oren also held.

As Ms. Holder mentioned, the jury “will be the body that separates democracy from creeping fascism.”

The jury continues deliberating tomorrow.

As soon as we confirm when the verdict will be announced, you will be notified via email. If you would like to be notified via text message, please respond to this email with your cell phone number.

We will be holding a press conference immediately after the verdict is announced.

The verdict hearing and the press conference will be held at the Santa Ana Courthouse (700 West Civic Center Drive Santa Ana, CA 92703, Room C1).